


Two Krus

by MaxiBrux



Series: Two Krus [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clarke Griffin/Bellamy Blake (past), Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2020-10-29 11:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxiBrux/pseuds/MaxiBrux
Summary: After Octavia confirms Echo's banishment Clarke sets up a rival group on what remains of Becca's island with her family and the people of Spacekru.  Octavia's plans mean that Clarke must also invite Dyoza and the survivors of the Elgius ship to join her.  How do the rival two krus manage to get along enough for the human race to survive?The story begins when Clarke sees Bellamy and Echo greet each other in the desert.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Before Praimfaya Bellamy and Clarke had finally given in to their brewing feelings and had become a true intimate partnership: but Bellamy thought that Clarke died and during the time on the Ring he moved on; Clarke did not. Clarke spoke to Bellamy on the radio every day and told her new family all about those in space, especially Bellamy, their dadddy.  
The big hug we saw in canon was typical of how Bellamy was acting while they were in Polis and he couldn't seem to let Clarke go. you can imagine the message Clarke received from Bellamy.

Clarke watched as Madi ran towards her. Trying to keep one eye out for her boys, Clarke hugged Madi with relief as she was reunited with her eldest child. She saw Bellamy running towards the Rover and assumed that he had caught sight of their sons and was eagerly anticipating that first hug. She was wrong.  
Clarke and Madi were frozen solid as Bellamy was hugging and kissing Echo and completely ignoring the two boys who had been released from the vehicle and were making their own way to Clarke as fast as their little legs could carry them. Releasing Madi, Clarke knelt down to hold her twin terrors in her arms and did her best to ignore the pain and humiliation emanating from the activities between her former partner and the Azgedan spy.  
“Mommy, why is daddy kissing Echo?” Bellamy’s mini-me asked into the silence, causing Bellamy and Echo to separate slightly.   
“I don’t know, Blake. It seems like there’s something daddy forgot to mention while he was telling me how much he missed me and what it was like in space while he mourned my apparent death. Let’s leave them alone for now and I’ll introduce you to your Aunt Octavia” Clarke said as she studiously ignored the shock on Bellamy’s face.  
Clarke led her family towards the injured Commander. “Octavia I would like you to meet my adopted daughter Madi Charlotte kom Louwoda Kliron, and my sons Griffin Wells and Blake Augustus kom Skaikru. Madi, boys, this is your dad’s sister Heda Aunt Octavia kom Wonkru.”  
Octavia spared Madi the merest of glances before studying the two boys one of whom was the image of his father.  
“I don’t like Aunt O” the boy who was clearly the son of Bellamy Blake whispered loudly, “she looks mean. She’s scary.”  
Octavia was displeased at being so easily summed up by a child. “Don’t be rude about your Commander, child” she snapped. “Being my nephew does not exclude you from the discipline of Wonkru.”  
There was a loud drawing in of breaths as everyone wondered how Clarke would deal with the inherent threat.  
“Madi, Griff, Blake, I know you’ve been cooped up for a while in the Rover, but I need you all to get back in because we are leaving now.”  
Three childish voices started to argue, but stopped abruptly when Clarke raised her hand. They dropped their heads and shoulders and turned to move to the vehicle, completely ignoring the man they had been so looking forward to meeting.  
Bellamy finally seemed to wake up to the fact that he needed to join the conversation. “Clarke, I’m, I, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I thought they were like Madi. I thought … . I’m sorry you had to find out about Echo and me that way. I’m sorry.”  
Octavia snorted as she smirked at her brother. “You have awful taste in women, Bell. First there was all your whores, then wishy washy Gina, and now you’re into murderous double crossing bitches. Anyway, your current bitch was banished, both by King Roan and by me so I guess you have a choice: returning to Polis with me or banishment with her.” The sneer made it clear that Octavia expected Bellamy to choose her as he always had in the past.  
“Just a minute” Clarke interrupted, “I don’t want to get in the middle of a sibling spat so I just want to point out that neither me nor my children are Wonkru and you have no right to carryout, order or threaten any discipline to us. Since you’ve made it clear that friends are not welcome with you we’ll be on our way. Despite everything, I’m glad you’re alive Octavia.”  
Clarke turned to walk away. Before she got to the Rover she turned to Echo, Monty and Harper; “If any of you want to not deal with Wonkru you’re welcome to join us. You’ll have to be quick because we’re not staying.”  
Echo stepped towards Bellamy. “I have to leave with Clarke. I need to apologise to her as well, even though I had no idea that she …” and Echo’s voice tailed off as she realised that there was no good way to complete that sentence.  
Bellamy looked at his lover, looked at the Rover with the love of his life and his children, and looked at his sister; the girl who he would do anything for, protect from every hurt and harm that he could, except that that girl no longer existed. Octavia had morphed into a ruthless, heartless killing machine. He then looked to Monty and Harper who appeared to be shell shocked and said “I have to leave with Clarke and Echo. What’re you going to do?”  
Meanwhile, Clarke was trying to sooth her very upset children. “Don’t worry, Sweeties, you’ll get to spend time with daddy soon. I’m sure that he and Echo will be coming with us” and inwardly Clarke cringed at the idea of having to see the man she had thought of as hers with another woman, but for her children she would do it. “Monty and Harper might come with us too, and we have to find out about Murphy and Emori and Raven” Clarke trailed off.  
“Raven is a prisoner and Murph has a collar on that shocks him if he leaves the valley so Emori decided to stay and hide with him” Madi said.  
“Well once we’re away and safe we’ll consider whether we should go straight to get them or wait and form a plan” Clarke said as she started the engine to hurry everyone up.  
“I love you, O” Bellamy said as he held onto Echo’s hand, “I hope you find your way back. I’ll try to find a way to be in contact once I know what we’re doing.”  
Octavia raised herself as much as she could to stare at her brother, the one person she thought she would be able to guilt into doing anything she wanted. “Don’t bother” she spat. “You are Wonkru or you are the enemy of Wonkru. If we see our enemies again we will show no mercy. Make sure you tell the other traitors.”  
As if to emphasise the point, Miller moved his rifle in a threatening manner as if to say that he wouldn’t mind shooting them all there and then.  
There was so much Bellamy wanted to say, but knew there would be no point, so he just nodded to his sister and turned to lead Echo to the Rover, followed by a puzzled and sad looking Monty and Harper.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group decide what to do after being declared enemies of Wonkru

“What’s the plan, Clarke?” Bellamy asked as he clambered into the back.  
“We’re moving away from any danger zone, and then we’re going to talk about the possibility of going to get our people from the Valley now, which means it would be a bit cramped until we arrive to our new home, or we go straight to Becca’s Island” Clarke said as she drove away from the potential missile heading for Wonkru.  
“What’s happened?” Monty asked. “Why aren’t we staying with Wonkru?”  
“Because we are the enemies of Wonkru and Octavia has put a kill order on all of us” Bellamy answered.  
“How can we be the enemy of Wonkru when we haven’t done anything?” pushed Harper.  
“Octavia’s view is that you are either Wonkru or the enemy of Wonkru and since Clarke made it clear that she and the children are not Wonkru, and Echo’s banishment means she’s not, then I can’t be either. I’m sorry; now that you’ve left with us you are tarred with the same fate.”  
“Mommy, why is Auntie Octavia mean?” Griff asked.  
Clarke glanced briefly at Bellamy through the mirror before answering. “Because whenever you have to do something awful to survive, like if you have to kill someone, a little bit of your soul dies. I think Auntie O had to do a lot of awful things to survive in that bunker for all that time for so much of her soul to have died.”  
“What’s a soul?” Blake asked.  
“Your soul is the part of you that’s inside of your body, it’s made up of what’s in your brain and what’s in your heart. It’s part of your personality. Your soul is what makes you and Griff different: you each have your own different soul” Clarke tried to explain.  
“Will Auntie O ever get hers back?” Griff wanted to know.  
“I hope so. I hope she can go long enough without having to do anything awful that her soul has time to get better so we can all be friends again” Clarke said with neither hope or expectation.

After about fifteen minutes or very awkward silence; Griff and Blake playing a hand slapping game; Madi giving Bellamy the occasional vicious glance and softening to sympathy while gazing at Clarke; Monty and Harper looking at each other with embarrassment as they glanced between Bellamy, Echo and Clarke and Echo and Bellamy, holding hands but staring out of the windows when not looking at the two boys with pain in their eyes, Clarke drew the vehicle to a halt.  
“Right, do we head straight to Becca’s Island or go back to the valley to see if we can get any of our people out now?” she asked.  
There was silence as everyone tried to think of the best thing to do.  
“Anyone any thoughts or should we just do what I think best?” Clarke pushed.  
“I think we should head to the island, get settled and then we send a small rescue party. Whoever goes could be there for some time since we don’t know how long it will take to find them let alone get them out” Madi suggested.  
“Well done, Madi” Clarke praised, “I agree. Once we’re settled, you me and one other, maybe two, should take the Rover round to the far north I think, far away from the village and their ship, we then load the Rover with supplies, leave me and the other and you come back here. We can agree a meeting point for you to come back a week later. That should give us time to at least know if it’s feasible to mount a rescue or to hide if it’s done. What does anyone else think?”  
“I don’t think it’s fair to Madi to expect her to drive back on her own” Harper said “so I think she should have either me or Monty with her.”  
Clarke nodded.  
“I think that I should be with you to help find and free our people” Bellamy said.  
Clarke visibly cringed at the idea of being stuck alone with Bellamy. “I think you should spend some time getting to know your sons. I want either Echo or Harper. Monty, and I’m sorry if you don’t want to, but I think you would be best setting up the hydroponic so we have food.”  
“Thanks, Clarke” Monty said relieved, “I would prefer to do that more than anything else.”  
“It’s settled then” Clarke was firm. She knew the best person to have on her side would be Echo, but she wasn’t sure that being alone with the woman who had her man was any better than being with the man himself.  
“I’m sorry, Clarke” Echo said able to understand Clarke’s feelings, “I know you would probably prefer to be with Harper rather than me, and who could blame you, but you know I would be better for whatever had to be done and should be the one to accompany you.”  
Bellamy looked askance and the two women in his life, hating the position he had unwittingly put them both in, but knowing that Echo was correct. Clarke merely nodded her head, unable to actually say the words.

Once they reached the island, no longer surrounded by water, Clarke stopped in front of the patched up house.  
“Madi, you’ll have to share with me so that John and Emori can have your room when we get them back so start to collect your stuff and move it across. Boys, I want you to show our guests to the other rooms and make sure that they have towels and soap and you’ll need to make tooth brushes for them, please. I’ll sort out some clean clothes for you all, just place your dirty stuff outside the door and I’ll deal with them.”  
Everyone did as Clarke bid, not knowing how they could make this difficult time easier for her.  
Once in their room Echo looked at Bellamy questioningly. “Why didn’t you tell me that you and Clarke were a couple? And, why didn’t you tell her about us?”  
“I thought everyone knew that we were a couple before. I assumed that you were being tactful in not mentioning it on the ring. As for us, I just didn’t know how to. I knew it would hurt her and I didn’t want to do that so I just kept putting it off, hoping that the perfect time would come but I knew as soon as I heard the Rover that it was too late and there was no way to avoid it. I swear I didn’t know that the boys were my actual sons. I had no idea that Clarke could get pregnant, she had an implant; it should not have been possible. I would have told her if I had known that.”  
Echo looked at Bellamy and saw that Octavia was not his only Achilles heel, Clarke was as well and she didn’t know what it meant for them.  
“You need to talk to her and get to know your sons, and find a way for her to not hate you. In her position, I would never forgive you for this betrayal.”  
“But I thought that she was dead! I didn’t know that I was betraying her.”  
“And once you knew she was alive, and you talked to her, you should have told her about me, regardless of the children. Clarke should not have found out about me the way she did: it was cowardice. Do you want to get back together with Clarke?” Echo asked.  
“No. Clarke and I are two very different people to who we were six years ago. I don’t know this Clarke and she doesn’t know me. In any case she and I had only known each other a few months were only together for a few weeks, whilst you and I have known each other for years and have been together for three of them. Those years are important to me and I am not throwing them away.”  
Echo thought about Bellamy’s words and she understood them, but she was also a little upset that he wasn’t putting his relationship with his sons at the forefront of his thinking. She silently wondered if Bellamy would regret choosing her over his family.

“What the hell! Did you know that Bellamy and Clarke had got together before priamfayer?” Harper asked Monty.  
“I suspected that they got together just after the defeat of ALIE. But for him to have spent all this time with Clarke and to not warn her about Echo is just beyond the pale. I would never have thought of Bellamy as being a coward, but that’s what he was.”  
“Unless he hadn’t made his mind up as to which one he wanted and didn’t want to burn any bridges” Harper theorised. “Come on, check out this bathroom.” Harper turned on the shower and squealed as water rained down.

“In honour of your first night here we’re having a bit of a feast. We’ll really celebrate when we get Raven, Murph and Emori back but otherwise dinner is usually a little more sparse. It shouldn’t be too difficult to feed so few of us as long as we can keep making incursions into Shallow Valley but I should imagine that Diyoza will turn her eye onto watching us if we’re too blatant” Clarke said as all eight were sat around a dinner table.  
“Would Shallow Valley support Wonkru, us and Eligius?” Harper asked.  
“Yes if we could all cooperate and be reasonable. But I don’t know how much of it will be left if Octavia and Diyoza have their war, and I doubt if either party would allow us to share the bounty peacefully. We might have to find a way of making this little enclave viable for the foreseeable future. I don’t know if Abby and Marcus will want to stay with us or try their luck with one of the other two parties” Clarke said the latter part ruminatively.  
“Perhaps we can try to find a time to talk to them while there” Echo suggested, making it clear that she had no doubt that she would be one of the rescue party.  
Clarke nodded while tending to her boys who were arguing about something. Eventually Clarke said “either stop the argument and accept that neither of you are going to ask him, or do rock, paper, scissors” to them.  
The two boys looked at each other as they considered their mother’s ultimatum. Eventually they nodded in agreement, made fists with their right hands to determine who would be the one to ask the question that they longing to hear the answer to.   
“Awww” grumbled Griff as he acknowledged his losing move. He shuffled a bit in his seat before looking to Bellamy. “Daddy, why don’t you love mommy and us anymore?”  
All except for Clarke, Madi and Blake looked embarrassed as they considered excusing themselves from the conversation.   
“It’s not that I don’t love you” Bellamy tried to explain, “it’s just that I don’t know you. Until I got back to earth, I didn’t know that your mommy was still alive or that you existed.”  
Griff and Blake clearly didn’t think that was a good enough answer. “But mommy spoke to you on the radio every day and told you all about us” Blake took up the mantle.  
“But I never heard her. The radio on the ship we were on was broken and we couldn’t hear anyone or speak to anyone.”   
Clarke raised a brow wondering why he hasn’t answered about not loving her anymore since it was clear that he had chosen to remain with Echo rather than to create a family with her and their children. Griff and Blake clearly decided that although they were not happy, they were not going to pursue the matter any further at that time. Clarke knew her boys well, though, and was well aware that they were going to choose their moment to ambush their dad when he was least prepared.

Clarke was sharing her bed with Madi: the bed that she had thought that she would be sharing with Bellamy on the occasions that they would visit the island. It was hard getting to sleep with all the pain coursing its way through her mind. To top it off she could clearly hear the sounds of Bellamy and Echo making love in their room. Bellamy had never been a quiet lover even when they first arrived on earth and the tents they slept in kept out no sounds. Clarke’s ruminations were cut short when her bedroom door slammed open and Griff and Blake jumped onto the bed.  
“Mommy, we can hear monsters in daddy and Echo’s room!” Blake cried.  
Madi was obviously awake and she snorted in disbelief.  
“That’s not monsters boys” Clarke tried to reassure them. “That’s daddy and Echo having sex which is something that only grown ups do. If you want them to stop, go and knock on their door and tell them to be quiet since it sounds like there are monsters fighting in there.”  
“Uhh!” Griffin said as he remembered another conversation. “Are they making a baby? I don’t want daddy to have any more babies.”  
Clarke smiled thinking how clever Griffin was. “I don’t think that’s what they want but you need to ask them. You can either wait for them to finish or ask them to be quiet because you two need to get some sleep, okay?”  
Griff and Blake left, not closing the door behind them so Clarke and Madi could hear as they banged on Bellamy and Echo’s door. “Can you be quiet if you have to make a baby ‘coz we need to get some sleep and we can’t when it sounds like monsters are fighting in there!” whisper yelled Blake.  
Clarke could hear the embarrassed silence throughout the house as everyone heard what was said. But at least Bellamy and Echo were quiet.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that Clarke had medical training and would think of all bodily functions in a logical manner, and when appropriate talk to her children about them logically - especially when responding to a question they asked. The youngsters might know that having sex leads to making babies, but that doesn't mean they know exactly what having sex entails. I remember the awkwardness of answering similar questions from my five year old when a friend was pregnant: how to explain such things without lying, without scarring them, without grossing them out and without making them want to know more! Happy times - not.
> 
> More on the Bellamy's thoughts on his choice between Clarke and Echo later. I hope you don't hate him.


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy tries to apologise to Clarke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank those who have left kudos for this story. It is a nice feeling to see that people enjoyed it enough to want to let me know, so thank you.

The next morning Echo was up early: she needed to talk to Clarke. Somehow, she and Clarke had to find a way to get along, at least while they were living in close quarters. Life would become very awkward for everyone if they could not. 

“I am sorry that you were embarrassed last night” Echo said as an opening gambit.

Clarke looked at her former, possibly current, enemy.

“Why would you be sorry? You clearly wanted to rub my nose in the fact that you had Bellamy or you would have had the tact to either abstain when in my home, or at least keep the noise down. Clearly you did neither and the message was received loud and clear.”

Echo thought that Clarke was too perceptive. “You are right except you are also wrong. I wanted to make it clear to myself that I had Bellamy and I didn’t think about the impact on you or the children. Bellamy loves you and he always will and I know that if you had been on the ring with us then he would never have looked at me twice and I am feeling a little insecure because I was second choice.”

“And now you are first choice: you even come ahead of his children. In all the time I’ve known Bellamy, no one, not even me, came ahead of Octavia and now you come first, so congratulations; but I really do not want to talk to you about him and I think it very insensitive of you to make me. Please ask Monty to meet me at the lab.”

Echo watched as Clarke walked away, her shoulders stiff and her back unnaturally straight, thinking that Clarke was perhaps the emotionally strongest person she had ever met.

It wasn’t Monty who met Clarke at the lab first: it was Bellamy.

“I asked Monty to wait, to let me have some time to talk to you privately” he said hesitantly.

“Why? The time to talk to me privately has long past. What can you possibly say that would make this situation better?” Clarke retorted, clearly angry at Bellamy.

“I am sorry. I am so sorry that you were hurt. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand that the boys were mine. I’m sorry that I left you to die. I am sorry that you had live alone on a radiated soaked planet and give birth alone.”

“Yeah, yeah” interrupted Clarke. “I get that you’re sorry. What I don’t get is why you didn’t have faith in me surviving. Why didn’t you have hope that I would somehow find a way to stay alive? You knew I had the nightblood. Most importantly, why didn’t you tell me about Echo before I found out so that I would not have been so utterly humiliated the way I was?”

Bellamy took a deep breath; he hadn’t realised the extent of the betrayal that Clarke was feeling.

“It never occurred to any of us that you could possibly survive” he began hesitantly.

“Really?” Clarke was disbelieving; “no one at any point said ‘you know she might survive; it’s Clarke; and she has night blood’ because I’m pretty sure someone would have tried?”

“Well, yeah, in the beginning when we were all trying to make ourselves feel better but no one really believed it.”

“I didn’t need any of the others to believe it, I needed you to want to believe it so much that you did. I had no way of knowing if I had managed to get the signal to the Ring in time and that you had survived given that you never replied to any of my radio messages or sent one of your own; especially when you didn’t come down after the five years, but I kept on hoping, kept on believing that somehow you would find your way back to me despite all evidence to the contrary. You had no such faith or hope in me and that hurts. But, if you had got me alone, talked to me about how you had thought I had died and after mourning me for however long it was you eventually moved on with Echo and that you were so sorry for causing me this pain, I would have eventually learned to let it go and still respected you as my friend. Instead, you let me ramble on about much I loved and missed you, and how couldn’t wait for you to meet the children so we can be a proper family and didn’t say a word. You let me find out by seeing you in another woman’s arms, kissing her, and in front of everyone so there was no way for me to hide my pain and at least retain my pride and dignity.”

“You did not lose your pride and dignity” Bellamy tried to argue.

“You left me with nothing, and now I feel nothing for you. The Bellamy Blake who was my partner, my best friend and my love is dead. Instead there is an ass who is my sons’ biological father who, and I never thought I would even think this about you let alone say it, but I wish that you had chosen to stay with Octavia so I would never have to see you again. All you do now is remind me of what an absolute idiot I was over you and how you are so not worth even the tiniest particle of the pain you have caused me let alone the pain you have brought to my children.”

Bellamy looked at Clarke, seeing the depths of her pain; pain that he had caused but she had not wanted to show. “I can never make this up to you, can I?” he asked forlornly.

“No, but you can at least try to not make it worse by exercising some tact with your relationship with Echo. When we get back from Shallow Valley I want you and Echo to move out of the house. While we’re gone, search around the lab for somewhere to make your home. You’ll be close enough that you’ll still be able to see the boys, assuming you want to, every day, but I won’t have to see you very much at all. Don’t try to talk to me alone, in fact I ask that you do me the favour of never talking to me again unless absolutely necessary. Now, please leave and ask Monty to meet me here.”

Clarke turned her back and waited until she was sure that Bellamy had left before releasing the breath that she was holding.

“How did it go?” Echo asked.

“Awful” was Bellamy’s response.

“Well what did you expect?” Harper asked. “She gave you everything, apparently called you every day on the radio hoping against hope that you were somehow still alive and getting her messages, talked to the children about how their daddy was going to come back so you could all be together again and what happens when you do come back? Yeah you help get her away from Diyoza, but otherwise you strip her of pride and humiliate the life out of her: and as for last night, that was just mean and I was ashamed of the pair of you.”

“We hadn’t been together for so long and we …” Echo trailed off.

“And how long is it since Clarke had been with her love?” Harper asked.

“Only because there was no one here, I bet” Echo got snippy.

Bellamy had to defend Clarke. “No, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Clarke had faith and hope that I would come back to her. She didn’t know that I was alive either, she just had faith and hope, something I didn’t have. So now we all have to pay and Clarke wants me to make a home for you and me in the lab while you’re away so she won’t have to see me around so much.”

“Well I think that’s the least you could do after last night” Harper felt for her former friend, and Madi. “Madi was so cross with you both, she had to have a long conversation with the boys this morning about how having sex did not mean that you were making babies because you didn’t want them since they were grown up before you met and she was not impressed.”

Bellamy groaned while Echo queried why they would know about babies and sex.

“Because Clarke would be honest with them if they asked a question and I expect she had to answer lots of questions about me and making babies over the years” Bellamy said knowing that he spoke the truth. “How do I make it up to them, though?” he asked.

Both Echo and Harper looked at Bellamy as if he was stupid, and, he guessed, he was to a large extent. “Sorry, but I do need help. Clarke told me all about these two boys and, to be honest, I wasn’t really listening since I was feeling so guilty knowing that I had to talk to her, so I can’t remember what she told me about them. All I know is what she told Octavia and that they are night bloods.”

“Talk to them, doofus, and listen to them and reassure them that even if you and Echo do have children that they won’t be in replacement of them so you hope they would love your other children, if you had any, the same way they love Madi, because you have no doubt that your children would love their big brothers.” Harper glanced at Echo and wondered if there was any need to have that particular conversation. “Echo, anything to add?”

“I can’t have children” Echo started, and before the expressions of sympathy could begin added “It was my choice when I was eighteen summers to make sure I had no more bleedings and no children. Although dangerous, it was a common choice for female Azgedan warriors. I never thought any more about it, but I am surprised that you did not realise that something was not normal” she added looking at Bellamy.

“Every woman feels different inside and I didn’t know when any woman had her bleedings except for Octavia before she was arrested; so I wouldn’t think about it. So you’re saying that there is no chance of you and me having children and you never thought to mention it?”

“Like I said, I never thought about it. If you had said that you wanted children, I would have told you, but you never mentioned it either. Besides, I am almost thirty years and that is too old to be having children.” Echo shrugged as if it were no big deal. Bellamy guessed that to Echo it was not.

“Well I would like Monty and me to have two children once we can settle down somewhere peacefully. I think we owe it to the world to play our part in repopulating it, especially if Diyoza and Octavia get their way and kill off more of the few remaining humans” Harper finished sadly.

The three went to explore the outside. They found Madi with Blake and Griff crouched down looking at something on ground most intently.

“What’s so interesting?” Bellamy asked; eager to begin to know his boys, his only children.

“We found bugs” Blake said not raising his head from the spectacle.

“Should we catch them to eat?” Echo asked.

“No!” Madi was shocked. “We need to do all we can to help this bit of land regenerate and bugs are a large part of that. Of course if we were starving we would eat them, but we have food so we let them do their work so there’ll be more for us later.” Madi felt very wise explaining this, but wondered why she would have to.

“Monty wants to run some tests on the soil to see if he can work out a way to make it more fertile quickly, give nature a helping hand, so to speak” Harper offered.

“Ooh, that’ll be good” said Griff. “Do you think he would let me help?” he asked.

Blake looked at his brother in pity. “Why’de you want to run silly tests when we can practice fighting?”

“’Coz eating is as important as fighting, right Madi?” Griff answered.

“Eating is actually more important than fighting, but they are both important, just like healing is important, see. We all can do something important.”

Griff and Blake looked at each other, clearly conversing silently, before turning as one to Bellamy. “What do you do that’s important, daddy?” they both asked.

Harper snickered as she wondered how Bellamy could answer that without losing what little respect the two five year olds had left for their father.

“I lead my people. I help them to stay alive, tell them what to do to be safe.”

“But mommy does that, and she does fighting” Blake said.

“And healing” Griff added.

“Yes, and while there was only four of you, your mom had to do more jobs, but there are more of us now and more still are coming so the jobs will have to be shared. Echo is the best at fighting, almost as good as Octavia, so she can help you learn that, and I can help you practice if you want since I can do some fighting.”

“Mommy said that you were best at telling stories, are you?” Griff asked.

“That’s not important” snorted Blake.

“Yes it is” Griff insisted. “I like stories.”

Madi interrupted the argument before it could get started. “Remember how your mom said that your dad told stories to your aunt Octavia and he taught her all her lessons when she was younger because she couldn’t go to school?” The boys nodded, so she continued “So your dad can do your lessons since he has to be better at it than me and maybe even better than your mom.”

“But what about your lessons?” asked Griff.

“I think Harper can help me with mine when Clarke can’t; if you don’t mind, Harper?”

What could Harper do but agree with that decided snub to Bellamy, and Echo. “Why don’t us four” and Harper indicated herself and the three youngsters, “go and find your mom and Monty so we can ask him if he wouldn’t mind Griff assisting with his work, and your mom if she wouldn’t mind if your dad helped with your lessons and improving your fighting?”

Back at the lab Monty and Clarke were talking about Monty’s hands.

“You seem to be able to manage most things” Clarke sounded almost proud.

“Yeah, I’m not as quick on the finer motor skills, like buttons, and can’t do the really fine things at all, but for the most part I’m good now. I couldn’t repair a mother board, but I could direct someone on what to do, but I’m okay with that since my heart is in farming and I can’t think of anything I couldn’t do on that front.”

Monty wanted to talk about Bellamy, but he didn’t think that Clarke would appreciate that so he asked about Octavia instead.

Clarke sighed. “I really don’t know what happened in that bunker, it must have been hard once they realised that they were trapped down there, and that assumes that nothing else went wrong; but Octavia is Blodreina, the Red Queen, and she is almost worshipped by her followers, and she is so fiercely sure that her way is the only way. Even when we tried to talk her into negotiation, she wouldn’t even consider it; she threatened to kill Bellamy for not being 100% behind Wonkru. You are Wonkru or you are the enemy of Wonkru with no possibility for friendly allies. I really don’t know how things are going to work out once the top dog has been found.”

“You don’t think that Madi could unite them all?” Monty asked.

“No, Octavia would put a target on her back. I know that some in Wonkru wanted to consider peace, but they are either too frightened of Octavia, too in awe of her or believe wholeheartedly that the Commander is to be obeyed regardless. Either Octavia would have to have an epiphany or be defeated.”

“Perhaps once peace has broken out she can, as you suggested to the boys, learn to love life again.”

They were just about to set off to return to the house for some lunch when they came across the others.

Monty was more than happy to gain an eager helper. “You must do exactly as Monty tells you, though Griffin Wells and if you are good I am sure Monty will want to keep you as his assistant. I am so proud that you want to help Monty grow food to feed us all.”

Blake seemed to be most put out. “But moma, I want to ‘tect us all. Proud of me, too?”

“Of course I am. I am proud that all of you want to help us in the ways that you can do best. If we have more people then I will have to do more healing so won’t be able to spend as much time with other things so having helpers will be so good. Now, while Madi, Harper, Echo and I are away trying to get us some more food and finding more of our people I want you both to do exactly what your dad tells you. I will tell him what you have to do every day, but it will be just you guys for a couple of days and then Madi and Harper will come back for a while before returning to get Echo and me and maybe more people and food. We’ll set off early tomorrow morning, just after sun rise, so I want the two of you to spend the afternoon with me since I won’t be seeing you for a few days.”

“Can we do some ‘sploring?” Blake asked.

“What a good idea. We can see if we can find some water, new plants and bugs.”

And the boys told their mom all about the bugs they saw earlier.

Lunch was a lively affair with the conversation being dominated by the two youngest of their group. All it took was one carefully phrased question and they off again, discussing, arguing and sometimes agreeing on what they were going to do while the women were away.

Clarke and the boys had a wonderful afternoon looking and finding more evidence that the earth was rejuvenating itself. While Blake and Griff were washing up Clarke packed the Rover with all the tools she thought they would need. She didn’t think she needed to ask Echo to bring her sword.

After the evening meal, Clarke asked the boys to get ready for bed and for Bellamy to tell them a couple of stories, no more than twenty minutes before they settled down to sleep.

Once Bellamy returned from settling his sons Clarke got down to business. She asked Madi and Harper to bring out the metal box from under her bed, and she went to get another metal container from high up in the kitchen cabinets. Opening both containers, Clarke passed a rifle each to Bellamy, Harper and Madi and a handful of bullets. “Don’t let the boys get hold of these. I’m teaching them basic archery as an introduction to weapons and although they know what guns are they know they are not to touch them. So far we’ve not seen any dangerous animals here, but who knows when that will change and it’s best to be prepared.

“As a general rule, we spend the mornings doing clearly useful things, hunting, gathering, repairs and maintenance type of things. In the afternoon we try to do fun things that can be used to help teach the boys. I expect them to practice their penmanship – writing, drawing, anything that requires the use of a pencil, and their basic sums, including counting, adding and subtracting. Madi as a rule will spend the afternoon doing some formal lessons and some combat training. Griff and Blake have a short attention span and will manage fit in a couple of short combat training sessions, age appropriate of course.

“They have a breakfast of bread and jam, Madi can make some more bread when she gets back, unless either of you know how. If the bread is a little too dry, toast it. Lunch is usually a potato with a little dried meat or fish and the evening meal is whatever is at hand plus some fruit for desert. The boys know how to cook the potatoes in the oven since it is a favourite of theirs and they can only be involved in the cooking of them while we’re here.

“We will set off early in the morning and we will make it look like only two of us arrive, and two will leave just in case we are watched. Madi will know where to meet us one week afterwards so we can make it look like two people arrive and two leave. Madi and Harper will have to camp overnight and leave the next day, there is camping gear in the Rover. Echo and I will make do with what we find for shelter and comfort. If necessary we can stay a little longer if we think it will be helpful and Madi can come back for us a week later. It will just look like we are making weekly incursions for food, camping overnight and leaving. What we need to decide is if we are going to kill the Elgius crew if we have the opportunity without it looking like we’re doing the killing.”

“I don’t want to be doing any killing, but I understand that it might help Octavia and she could then see fit to be a bit more accepting of us if she wins the battle” Monty said.

“They clearly have the much better fire power, but Wonkru have the numbers. If we can reduce the Elgius numbers enough then Wonkru will have a better chance of over running them” Bellamy added.

“How many does Elgius have?” Madi asked.

“Around fifty, I think” Clarke said.

“I think then it is only worthwhile doing if you can be sure of it not being traced back to us, or in self defence. I don’t think you can make enough of a difference without being open about it and then we’ll be screwed if Elgius win” Harper suggested.

Clarke looked at Echo, saw her nod of agreement, looked to Madi to see her agreement and without looking to Bellamy, just waited to see if he had anything to add. When it was clear that there were no further words of wisdom from that quarter, Clarke said “Fine, we’re all agreed: our primary task is to bring here as many of our people as we can and only if it cannot be helped or laid at our door, terminate the Eligius crew.”

“There is something that might help” Monty was hesitant. “This” and he held out a small vat of green goop, “will put everyone who ingests it into a coma for about a week, even the smallest amount so if everyone went into coma, you could bring all our people here to recover and then it is up to you what you do with the rest.”

“Monty, you genius, it might be able to work” Echo said and started rummaging through the kitchen until she found what she was looking for, a small container into which she had Monty pour a little of the goop. “This is more than enough to put fifty people to sleep” Echo added.

“Now that’s settled, let’s you and me retire to our room for a little girl time” Clarke said to Madi and they said their ‘good nights’ to everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The issue with Echo not having children is one I have used in another story since I could imagine it happened in canon - having a period while in the middle of battle, ughh!
> 
> I do find it hard to believe that no one in Spacekru would have tried to suggest that Clarke could find a way to survive so I wanted to put it somewhere; and as for Bellamy not telling Clarke about Echo before she saw them together, I just don't see. Clarke asked about the Ring so how could Bellamy not say anything about Echo?! Ahh, that is a particular bug bear of mine.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Echo work together to take back their missing kru from Eligius.

Clarke drove without thought to the point near the outskirts of Shallow Valley that she thought would be ideal for their ruse. She reversed into the entrance to a cave so that they could exit the Rover without being seen. “Remember, only two people outside the cave at any one time, just in case we’re being watched, and keep an ear and eye out for any patrols. Echo and Madi, can you two go and lay some snares while Harper and I set up camp in here?”

Everyone did as Clarke suggested and soon there was a cosy fire with a spit and some blankets made to look like there were only two beds. Once Madi and Echo returned, Clarke said that she was going to start filling the crate with soil for Monty to grow seedlings and to see if she could uproot a couple of fruit trees. It was soon agreed that Harper and Echo would take turns to fill the crate, making sure that only one was outside, while Clarke looked for fruit saplings. Madi would tend the fire and prepare the food for everyone.

Clarke returned with three small trees and a few small shoots.

“This one I think is an apple tree, I don’t know how long it will take to grow” Clarke placed the largest sapling on top of the crate in the Rover. “This one is a berry bush. It grows really quickly and in a month or two we should have some edible berries if it takes” and she placed another in the Rover. “I think this one is a chestnut so we could have some nuts in the future. These small shoots are firs and they grow really quick, but have to be away from other trees since nothing else grows around them. They will provide wood, but little else. Even if we can all come back here, it won’t do any harm to have a place to escape to that we can live off if necessary.” Clarke was thinking about herself mainly, not wanting to be with all the people who would invade her and her children’s home.

Clarke and Madi snuggled under the one blanket, while Echo and Harper shared. Clarke didn’t think that they got a good night’s sleep but she and Madi had slept well enough.

Leaving Harper and Echo to rest a little longer, Clarke and Madi checked the snares to discover three rabbits and two squirrels. They made sure the animals didn’t suffer any longer and quickly beheaded and gutted them. They too were placed in the Rover. 

After making sure that Harper and Echo were up and alert, Clarke said that she would hunt for some bigger game and wanted Harper to begin picking some fruit. Madi was to show Echo around that particular cave system, including the fake dead end that they had so they could make it look like the tunnels off the cave went nowhere.

Clarke didn’t have to go very far to find a big cat that might have been attracted to the smell of the smaller animal entrails. She decided not to dress the cat at all and to let its waste be used to help fertilise the land on Becca’s Island. Clarke then went to aid Harper in collecting nuts, berries and fruits.

When the Rover was loaded with as much as they could fit, and the campsite cleared Madi and Harper set off to return to the Island. They promised that they would be at the other cave entrance that Madi and Clarke knew about one week from that day. Harper hugged both Echo and Clarke, while Madi merely nodded to Echo and gave Clarke the longest hug she could manage. “I love you” Madi whispered, “stay strong”.

Clarke could only smile and nod her head as she watched the Rover drive off.

“What’s first?” Echo asked.

“We need to use the cave and tunnel systems to get as close to the point where Madi left John and Emori to track them. That will take us the rest of the day. Come on, let’s block off the tunnel in case we were watched and they come looking.”

Echo was very uncomfortable for the whole day. Clarke kept up a brisk pace, which in itself was not a problem, but the silence was nothing but painful. Clarke clearly wished to pretend that she was alone, but Echo wanted to find some way of making a friend of the remarkable Wanheda. To have survived alone and to bring two babies into the world without any assistance made Clarke a woman to be admired, and Echo always felt safer when she was aligned to someone stronger than she was herself. She had once thought that Bellamy was stronger, but she had recently come to realise that he was not. He also needed to be aligned to someone stronger than himself and the reality was that it was Clarke who was the stronger person out of the three of them. Both she and Bellamy needed to find a way to get Clarke to forgive them, although it was mainly Bellamy who needed the forgiveness, so that they could be an accepted part of Clarke’s clan.

“Are you going to be alright with me and Bellamy, Clarke? I mean will you ever be able to forgive us enough for us all to get along?” Echo asked.

Clarke halted her march; took a deep breath and turned to look at the woman who had the man she thought was her own soul mate. “You have done nothing that requires forgiveness, Echo: apart from your distinct lack of tact and consideration. I just need time to be able to deal with you, to get over the pain of seeing and hearing you with Bellamy. He is the one who needs forgiveness and I know that is not going to come any time soon, if at all. I honestly think that the best to hope for is that I get to the point where I just don’t care anymore.”

Echo could do nothing but agree with Clarke’s summation. Not caring was easier to live with rather than feeling love and hate intermingled about someone you had to see and get along with but could not have.

“They’ve been here” Clarke said as she looked around a cave. “There’s a definite camp site feel to the place. It’s a good cave to choose since there are a number of off shoots, and a water source in here. I wonder why they’re not here now.”

“Perhaps they leave for the day and only return here at night” suggested Echo.

Clarke acknowledged the possibility with a nod. She went to what she thought would be John and Emori’s main entrance to the cave and picked up the remains of a burned stick to write on the wall. “Can you help me spell some words in trigedesleng?” Clarke asked.

“There would be no point. Emori cannot read and I doubt that Murphy can read trigedesleng.”

Clarke did not appear to react to Echo’s as she carried on writing anyway. Echo looked and shrugged, noticing, but not commenting on the incorrect spellings, but her expression said it all. “I wrote as they are phonetically pronounced. Murph will be able to read it and Emori translate. Murphy will know it’s for him from me” Clarke explained.

They carried on walking, pausing only to take in some water and eat some berries. It wasn’t until it was near dusk that Clarke called a halt. She directed Echo to a particular spot in a cave and suggested that Echo builds a fire while she, Clarke, got some game.

Not knowing how Clarke expected her to build a fire in that particular spot Echo raised her brow in query.

Clarke pointed to a hole in the cave and said “If you go through that hole you will find lots of dead wood, just make sure you are able to return, don’t get lost.”

Echo was most affronted until she went through the hole to discover that the return was almost impossible to see and if she had not known it was there she would never have found it again. To be safe, Echo left a marker for herself as she collected what she would need to make a fire. Once she had the fire blazing, Echo decided to try to bring in some moss, leaves, ferns, anything that could make a softer bed than the hard stone floor.

Clarke returned with a large bird and nodded her approval to both the bed and the fire.

“We’ll take turns to sleep and keep watch” Clarke said as she prepared the bird to cook. “The entrance to here is about five or more minutes if you know exactly where you are walking, but there is a lookout ledge just there” Clarke pointed to a point just above Echo’s right shoulder, “so if we saw someone coming we would have at least five minutes warning.” Echo nodded, impressed with Clarke’s forethought in choosing this particular point for their night’s rest. Clarke showed Echo the rest of the amenities offered and was well pleased with the accommodation.

Nothing happened to disturb their night’s rest.

For breakfast Clarke and Echo ate the remains of the bird and chewed on some leaves that had the benefit of freshening their breath.

They went to the cave system where Clarke had left her message to see no change to it so they forged on, searching for their friends. They found more evidence of a camp site, this time more recent. In fact, Clarke, and Echo were sure that this was the spot that Murphy and Emori had camped the previous night. Clarke left another message using charcoal.

They were about to move on when they heard the distinct sounds of someone, or something, approaching. There was nowhere to hide without alerting who, or what, was coming their way so they merely drew their weapons and stood either side of the cave entrance.

“Look, it’s our best shot at getting that thing off of you!” Emori’s voice made clear her exasperation at Murphy.

“Yeah, but I’d rather we kept it on than I got shocked to death” Murphy was sullen.

Echo and Clarke lowered their weapons and ran to hug the two new comers.

Emori was in tears as she looked at Clarke. “I’m so glad that you’re alive. I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life, for giving me your suit so I wasn’t so ill. Thank you.”

Clarke smiled. “You’re welcome. It’s so good to see you both. We left a message at one of the other caves that we’ve noticed you used, we can get rid of it tomorrow.” Clarke pulled something out from one of her pockets and wrapped it round Murphy’s neck, pushing it under the shock collar as much as she was able. “Now, what were you saying about getting this off?”

Emori explained that there was some tools in the pod they came down in that she thought could be used to remove the collar but that John was concerned that any attempt to remove it could result in death.

“I remember the collar and what it feels like. This thing is made of cable insulation” Clarke indicated the barrier between Murphy’s neck and shock collar, “so should offer some if not full protection from the current.”

Murphy agreed that it would be okay to try. Echo and Emori went back to the pod to take whatever they thought would be helpful. Meanwhile Clarke and Murphy talked.

“I’m sorry about Bellamy and Echo” John said, surprisingly serious and thoughtful for him. “You’ve got three great kids and they were so looking forward to meeting their dad and to being a family. How are you all getting on now?”

“We’re not” Clarke muttered. “The first I knew about him and Echo was when they ran into each other’s arms and started kissing. All that time we were in Polis and he never once thought to mention that he had moved on, the stinking coward.”

John Murphy, traditionally not the most sensitive guy was shocked. He hadn’t thought that Bellamy had it in him to be so spineless.

Clarke wanted to change the subject so she explained what had happened with Octavia and Wonkru and how they hoped to be able to avoid getting caught up too much in the forthcoming war.

Echo and Emori were having a similar conversation.

“Well, that must make it awkward for all of you” Emori remarked.

Echo could do nothing but snort in agreement with the understatement.

“And it must make you feel better to know he chose you over Clarke and his children.”

Echo this time could only give a blank look because she was not sure that that is what Bellamy had done.

“We brought a tool kit, med kit, oxygen, hydrazine and our packs” Emori said as she and Echo placed everything they carried on the floor. “I thought we might be able to use the hydrazine to make a small bomb if we needed a distraction”.

Clarke filled Murphy in on the plan to cut down the number of Eligius if they could do so without drawing attention as she checked that he was as protected as he could be when Emori selected the tool she was looking for. Clarke and Echo held Murphy as tightly as possible while Emori fiddled with the catch at the back his neck. Emori’s work was causing some shocks but Clarke’s insulation collar was working and John’s suffering was minimal. It wasn’t too long before he was free.

“Now the question is, what do we do with it?” asked Clarke.

“There is a tracking device in it and someone is trying to find me” Murphy said.

That gave Clarke an idea and she outlined her plan for everyone. They thought it was good. Echo explained how they wanted to be sure to get Raven out, and Abby and Kane if possible as well. They talked about the vial of algae that they could use to put others to sleep if they could think of a way to get it into the food source without discovery.

Echo and Murphy had their intended victim with Murphy’s shock collar around its neck and shirt on its back. They started the next stage of their plan then set to wait. 

It took just over four hours when three members of the Elgius crew turned up. One was firmly intent on the monitor in his hand and not watching where he was going. He stepped into the trap, screaming as he impaled himself on the wooden stakes in the trap.

“Awh, man!” one of the other crew exclaimed. “At least we know that he’s dead and not going to be a problem for us. Do you want to tell Diyoza the good news?”

“No, she’ll be pissed the McCreary got himself killed. We’ll just have to …” she cut off screaming as she and her crew mate were shoved firmly into the pit after their colleague. It didn’t take long for the cries to silence.

Murphy pulled at the vine that Clarke had shown them to test its strength before climbing carefully into the pit to pick the pockets of the dead crew. He found just one radio, but two hand guns.

They congratulated themselves on a job well done.

They had hoped to get at least three radios, but realised one was a start and they could get more with their next plan.

Two days later Echo took the radio and, standing close to the pit with the three dead Eliguis crew and a boar dressed like John Murphy, called the ship. It was Shaw, as identified by Murphy, who answered. “Who are you? How did you get this radio? What do you want?” he asked.

“My name is Echo. I found this radio on the floor next to large stake trap with four dead people in it. I want asylum. Anything else?” Echo asked in return.

“Is there anyone else with you” Shaw asked.

“No” answered Echo as she grinned at her three comrades standing in the mouth of a cave out of sight of any surveillance equipment. “I was banished by my king before praimfayer and Octavia reconfirmed my banishment so I have nowhere else I can go. Look, if you don’t want me to join you lot, I’ll just continue to wander around. I just thought you might want to know that I may have found some of your lost people. If they’re not yours, sorry for disturbing you and I have no idea how this radio turned up on the floor near to where their bodies are. Bye.”

“No, wait. Stay where you are and we’ll come find you, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Echo made sure that the insulation necklace was transformed into a belt and the vial of algae was inside her body in case she was searched.

A few minutes later the radio crackled to life again. “Echo? Echo, is that really you?” It was Raven. She was still alive.

“Raven, yeah it’s me. It’s so good to hear your voice. Are you alright? Is Murphy with you?” Echo was sad to have to make Raven think that Murphy was dead but she knew that their conversations would be listened to so she had to keep everything believable.

“No, he is around somewhere. Apparently a few people are out looking for him. I’m okay though. What about you? Why aren’t you with the others?”

“Oh,umm, Raven. I think I found Murphy and the others who were looking for him. They’re dead. I found this radio next to a large trap and it looks like there’s four dead bodies in it.”

“Oh no. Poor Murphy. Emori is going to be devastated. What, why aren’t you with them?”

“Octavia confirmed my banishment. Bellamy wanted to come with me, I think, but Octavia’s guards held him back while I was threatened at gun point. Is someone really coming for me?”

“Yeah, they’re tracking and following the signal which is why I’m being allowed to keep talking to you. They should be with you shortly.”

At that, the other three waved their farewells to Echo and disappeared into the cave. Echo walked about to confuse any footmarks that may be spotted while she talked to Raven and asked how she was being treated.

Raven knew she couldn’t say too much or the punishment that would follow would be brutal so she just pointed out that she was still alive and then she told Echo that Abby Griffin and Marcus Kane were with them, something of which she thought Echo would be unaware.

“Why are they there?” Echo asked.

“Kane was sentenced to death for something so he and Abby left Polis with the Elgius crew.” Raven didn’t know the full story but Echo had heard about Abby’s removal and her agreeing to cooperate if Kane went with her. Clarke was correct, they clearly needed a doctor for something.

When she was found, Echo was searched and the only thing they took from her was the radio. A cursory glance into the stake pit resulted in a scornful “It looks like McCreary found the little ****er and look what he got for his trouble” from one crew man who took too much pleasure in patting down Echo.

“Raven, we found your friend. No, no sign of anyone else but it does look like McCreary found Murphy, sorry” said another who took a much more intensive look into the pit and raised an ironic brow at Echo, receiving her best innocent look in return.

Much to Echo’s displeasure, but not her surprise, her neck was then adorned with its own shock collar.

Back at the camp Echo reunited with Raven. They sat close together, hugging and apparently consoling each other as Echo spoke in a mixture of English and trigedeslang to explain what was going on without anyone else understanding. Raven played along and was convincingly righteous with her reactions, focussing all her anger on Octavia. Raven agreed to be ‘put to sleep’ as it were, but made Echo promise that she would save Shaw, too if at all possible. That evening Echo was able to surreptitiously pour some of the vial of algae over the food. The only way to make sure she did not ingest any was to not eat any of the meat. She ate only nuts and berries since as she reminded Raven loud enough to be overheard by a few others, she was a vegetarian. Raven smirked knowing how much Echo missed her meat while up in the ring.

As expected, it took only seconds for people to begin struggling and then collapsing. More than half the camp, including Raven, Abby, Kane, Shaw and Diyoza were in comas.

Echo fake panicked. Pretending to try and revive some while suffocating them. “It was the meat!” she cried. “Don’t eat the meat!” and those who had meat in their hands threw it onto the fire. Echo knocked the rest of the contaminated meat to burn.

“What do we do? Who’s in charge?” asked Echo. “Should we take those still breathing to their rooms or something?”

The Elgius crew, or what remained of them looked lost until one said “Yeah, we should try to take the living ones to their rooms. How should we look after them?” 

Echo took this chance, seeing that all the management team were asleep, and offered suggestions that no one could argue with. “Someone take Diyoza to her room and stay with her since she has to be the priority. I’ll look after Raven, Abby and Kane. We need to try keeping them hydrated. Is there anyone with medical experience?”

Everyone shook their head. 

“Is there anyone with engineering experience?”

A few people pointed at Shaw and one said “He’s the only one.”

“Well, in that case, he is also a priority. Anyone else here a priority?”

A few looked around and everyone shook their head.

Echo lifted Raven and carried her into the old church which was set up like a dormitory placing her on one of the beds. Next, she carried Abby, then Kane and seeing that no one else was doing anything, she also took Shaw, then Diyoza, and a few others until all the beds in church were occupied. After that it was a case of placing people on the floor in a few of the houses in the village. Seeing that she was alone, Echo suffocated four more in various locations before going outside to address everyone else.

“On earth we burn our dead. We cannot leave them or it brings disease. We need to build some pyres. Although we have only five dead now, we’ll probably have more before this is over. If no one is going to help me, get out of my way.”

Of the eighteen people still alert from the crew, only two asked what Echo needed for them to do. She directed them to finding dead wood. She made two pyres and placed three bodies on one and two on the other. “Go check on everyone in the church and see if we have any more bodies” Echo suggested, “I’ll check the houses.”

Surprisingly, although Echo knew that there were two dead in the church, only one was identified and also placed on a pyre. Echo suffocated two more in the houses and identified two more dead.

“That’s a total of eight” Echo said fake sadly. “I hope we can get the rest through this.”

Echo got some water, drank it and waited. “This seems okay” she said and took it to the church so that she could force some fluids into everyone’s mouth, well everyone she wanted to make sure pulled through.

Whilst everyone was asleep, without anyone ordering it, it seemed that no one wanted to offer to keep watch, Echo collected wood to make another two pyres and took Raven and a few radios to the meeting point with Clarke, John and Emori. Using the cable insulation band they were able to remove Raven’s shock collar and Echo placed it on one of the women that she suffocated, putting her on one of the pyres. Echo also put another body from the church there. Telling the others that Raven wanted to make sure that Shaw was saved too, Echo took him next and gave him to the others. Clarke showed Echo one of the drawings she had done of the large portable weapon that had wreaked havoc in Polis and asked if it was possible for them to take one. Echo was able to get one that she strapped over Emori’s shoulder. With Clarke carrying Raven in a fireman’s lift, and John carrying Shaw, they would not be able to take more that night but would be back the next.

Clarke, Murphy and Emori slowly made their way through the caves to the point where Madi would meet them in two days’ time. Emori stayed with Raven and Shaw to try to keep them hydrated and to force small amounts of nourishment down their throats while John and Clarke returned to offer what help they could to Echo. 

Echo had placed two more bodies on the pyres and set the first alight by the time the first of the Elgius crew surfaced.

“Go check the rest of the houses to see if any more from there are dead, I found two in the first” Echo said.

Three more bodies were found, one of which Echo had not suffocated, and placed on the pyres to set alight.

“What are we gonna do for food?” Echo was asked.

Echo looked around. “Are you seriously wanting me to be in charge right now?” When there was no one answering one way or another she went on “Right now I am knackered. I’ve spent most of the night forcing water into the mouths of people who I don’t really give a crap about, building two funeral pyres when it was clear that more were going to die and having to watch my best friend burn when she was one of the ones I was unable to save. I’ll be in charge if you want, but right now I am too tired to give a crap about hurting feelings. You want food? Well, actually so do I. You, you, and you” Echo pointed at three people, “go and get all the fruit and nuts you can find – don’t eat them, I’ll let you know if any of them are poisonous. Who can fish?” One hand went up. “You, after you have eaten some fruit and nuts from the store go and fish, take two others with you and teach them what to do.” Echo then pointed to two others and told them to get water and to dribble into the mouths of those who were unconscious and told everyone else to chop trees because she had a feeling they were going to need more pyres. She then took the opportunity to get some sleep because she knew she would need it.

After three hours Echo woke to check on progress. 

The fruit and nuts brought in were all pronounced safe to eat and were happily consumed. While Echo checked on all the patients she ‘found’ one more dead. Echo directed some of the others how to build effective pyres. She also showed two others how to set snares to catch small game. On being questioned as to why they didn’t just shoot the buggers Echo answered “Because one loud bang and they all disappear and if you miss that’s it. This way you can set your snare then wander off to do something else, and you won’t run out of bullets.”

It seemed to amaze people that running out of bullets could be an issue.

Echo took the opportunity to go through Diyoza’s things. Amongst them she found a book full of hand written battle strategies, she put it in her pocket. Hearing someone approach, she picked up another book ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu and began reading. “Do you think Diyoza would mind me reading this?” Echo asked who was at the door.

“Dunno” was the reply.

“Oh well, I had better not, just in case. Is there somewhere else where she could have kept records, an office or something?”

On receipt of a shrug of the shoulders, Echo went on “Okay, in that case, can you ask around? I’m going to see if I can find anything in the doctor’s room, can you show it to me?”

This time Echo was successful and was shown to Abby and Kane’s house. She looked around and was surprised to see that it contained many drawings: there was a woman Echo thought was Abby, a man Echo didn’t recognise, many teenagers including Raven, Murphy, Harper, Monty, Octavia and many of Bellamy, the twin boys and a young girl, obviously Madi, as they grew. This was Clarke’s home before the Elgius ship arrived. Echo bundled up the drawings to return to Clarke, keeping one of Bellamy for herself. She also found many medical notes that clearly demonstrated that something was most decidedly wrong with many of the Elgius crew. She took some of those too, thinking that Clarke would be able to understand them. She took the rest outside.

“If these notes are true, it seems that some of you are very, very sick. Is this why you need a doctor?” Echo called.

There was a lot of shuffling of feet. A woman answered “Those that did most of the mining are sick, and I think that most of those who were sickest are amongst those who died.”

Echo thought it was a lucky coincidence and probably a good cover for what happened and decided to enlarge “and those who weren’t really sick before are probably the ones who ate the most of that meat before collapsing” she added sadly. “Well”, Echo went on more positively, “the deaths seemed to have slowed down so perhaps now all we need to do is to try to keep them hydrated and fed before whatever it was works its way through their systems.”

That night Echo took the papers to Clarke and John as well as Kane and Abby. She told Clarke to take who they could back to the island and to come back for her in one week’s time, she would go to the cave where they spent the night as soon as the others began to waken. Clarke handed over the some body parts from a boar that was placed on a pyre as well as one female from a house. Echo set it alight.

When the others began to emerge from where they were sleeping Echo directed one of them to check the rest of the people.

“Who” one crew man asked.

“Abby. I don’t think the poison killed her. She seized and had foam coming from her mouth. I put Kane with her because I didn’t think he would want to live without her.”

“You mean he wasn’t dead when you put him up there?” he was shocked.

“Well he was still breathing so technically I suppose so. Should I have killed him first? Perhaps I should have because now I think about it, we don’t know that they can’t feel anything while they’re in this coma. I just didn’t want him to have to suffer without his mate. And now I have to try to think about how I am to tell another friend, assuming I ever get the chance, that her mother has died. I do hope they start waking up soon, I don’t know how much more of this I can take. It might have been better to take my chances with Octavia’s kill order, at least it would have been quick.”

For two more days Echo was depressed. It was very easy for her to imitate depression due to the deaths of her people since she was depressed at having to pretend to be a vegetarian. There was only one more death, and luckily one of the Elgius crew was with the man when she noticed that he had stopped breathing. It reminded Echo that there was no guarantee that her people would pull through the coma, she could only have faith and hope, just like Clarke had for six years, and she could only hope that her faith and hope had better results than Clarke’s had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that I find myself questioning is why didn't Echo kill all the Elgius people so that her people could take Shallow Valley and make use of the weapons to keep Wonkru in control. The answer I came to (other than the story would in completely different direction to the one I wanted) is that Echo is trying to be a little bit better and not kill everyone that she can, just because she can.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echo is re-united with her friends and family on Becca's island.
> 
> Octavia goes on the attack and Clarke needs to contact the Elgius camp.

The moment the first of the Elgius crew started to waken Echo made her preparations.

“Look, they’re coming round, you don’t need me anymore and to be honest, I don’t trust that your people won’t somehow hold me responsible even though I did my best to look after them; and my friend and friend’s family here all died and I had to watch them burn. I’m gonna go for a wonder. I know I won’t get far with this thing around my neck, and when everyone is better you could probably track me.”

Joe, as Echo had learned was his name, tried to talk Echo out of it. “We can tell them how you helped us, made us keep looking after them, even when it clearly made you exhausted.”

“I just need a break, Joe. For so long I have lived for other people. Even with someone I thought would live for me, but I was wrong. Now I want time to live or die for me for a while. Do things for me that are in my control and not at someone else’s whim. This collar, and bloody Octavia, means that I can’t be totally under my own control but for now I want to take what I can, while I can.”

“Okay, I understand, Echo. I’ll see you soon. Please take care of yourself. We can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us. I’ll make sure the others know that they’re probably alive thanks to you. Come back when you’re ready.”

Echo packed up a small bag of what few possessions she had, including a small knife that she knew would be recognised, and took a handful of nuts and grabbed a couple of apples. She then left the village and walked towards the rearranged point.

There Echo received a shock, instead of Clarke waiting for her it was Madi.

“I thought Clarke needed to spend more time with her sons” Madi said. “She told me the plan and I can help as well as she can. I can’t build the pyre too well but I have found the perfect place, and I have already trapped the perfect patsy. Come on, let me show you the perfect spot to build your pyre and where we’ll leave your blood. Clarke said a head wound would be best to leave a lot of blood but for it not to be fatal. I have some of Monty’s to give to you to help replenish your supply without compromising the freshness of what’s left to be found in case there is a know it all who could tell how old a blood splat is.”

Echo followed Madi to where she was to ‘die’.

While she could, Echo built a good pyre. Next, she donned the insulated neck tie and held still while Madi removed the shock collar. Madi showed Echo where they would be while Echo recuperated from the blood loss. Nibbling on some dried meat, and drinking plenty of water since Clarke said that the more fluid in her system the easier it will be to bleed, they went over the plan to make sure it was as flawless as possible and that the chances of them being caught were very slim “unless one of us sneezes at the wrong moment” Madi added with a slight grin.

Echo was pleased that Madi seemed to have got over her problem with Echo being with Bellamy and took the teasing in good part.

Immediately after sunset Echo light the pyre and she and Madi carried the remains of the boar that Clarke assured them would look similar to human remains up the rock face. There Madi took Echo’s knife and sliced her head to let the blood flow. Sitting to allow as much blood as possible to pool on the rock floor, Echo then stood and staggered to the edge leaving a blood trail. Madi immediately cleaned Echo’s wound and threw the boar body parts and Echo’s shock collar into the fire. After making sure there was no more blood or other trace, Madi almost carried Echo to the refuge where they would rest while Echo’s blood replenished.

At first light, after being assured that Echo was okay, Madi left to check that the ruse was checked out. Madi lay with her back to the sun and watched Echo’s pyre that was still smoking since Echo including some live wood for that purpose, through her rifle scope. It didn’t take long for two of the Elgius crew to come and investigate. One saw some of the blood dripping of the rock face and climbed up. He picked up the knife Madi dropped with Echo’s blood trace still on it, dipped his finger in the blood pool and put it in his mouth. Madi hadn’t heard that it was possible, but perhaps he could taste the difference between human and animal blood. Their ruse was a success.

As soon as Echo was sure she was steady enough to walk without assistance, she and Madi began the journey through the caves, only coming out when necessary to cross to another system or for food. They arrived at the point from where they would be collected with nearly two days to spare. They decided to take the opportunity to hunt, find saplings that they could pull up just as they were about to leave and to pick fruits and nuts. They now had to find a way to feed fourteen people on a barren island.

“We need to breed rabbits” Madi declared, “and turkey fowls. If we can get enclosures built that would be okay for the animals, on our next trip here we can do some live trapping.”

“That’s a good idea” said Echo. “We won’t be able to feed from them immediately, but we should look to the future. You’ll have to suggest it as soon as you see Clarke.”

They decided not to risk a fire so made sure they had plenty of insulation to keep them warm at night.

Madi and Echo were surprised to see Monty with Clarke to collect them.

“I wanted to see if I could find any medicinal herbs” he said.

Madi told Clarke her idea about trapping rabbits and turkey fowl.

“Great minds think alike” Clarke smiled. “We thought about that and Raven and Shaw are making enclosures as we speak. And yes, everyone did wake up fine, a bit cross in the case of Shaw, and my mom is not well, but that has nothing to do with the algae, and Kane is so happy and thinks that what we’re doing is so great. And Raven seems to be in geek heaven in the lab. I’m afraid we seemed to have separated into clans: the space crew people along with Shaw have taken over the lab and made their living quarters there. Two of the beds have migrated from the house and I think there was talk of making a couple more. Us earth bound folk are at the house.” Echo could hear Clarke’s sadness at the separation, something that once again put her on the outside.

Clarke reminded them all that once again, no more than two people outside the cave system at the same time.

This time, as well as soil, saplings, herbs, nuts and fruits and dead game they also took back four live rabbits. They had no idea as to the gender of the rabbits, but they just took what they caught. If they all turned out to be male, then they would cook up two of them.

It was strange being back at the island. After everyone had greeted each other, and the rabbits placed in their new home, the two parties separated. Echo noticed Clarke’s shoulders droop when seemingly without thought the people from the ring, plus Shaw, all migrated to the lab talking amongst themselves.

As soon as they were all together, with the lab door shut behind them Echo laced into them.

“What the hell do you lot think you’re doing separating us like you have done? Don’t you think Clarke has paid enough for the sin of saving our lives or do you have to keep on rubbing it in to her face that we all moved on in the ring while she got left behind?”

The rest of the space crew looked a little sheepish while Shaw just raised his hands and said “Don’t look at me. I just go where I’m told.”

Finally Bellamy spoke up. “Clarke said she wanted you and me to live here, remember?”

“Yes, completely understandably, in the circumstances, but that does not explain the mass exodus.”

“Well there obviously isn’t room at the house for everyone else so they all decided we should stick together” Bellamy explained. 

“Anyway, they’re all Clarke’s family, and it’s a bit weird for us to intrude on their family” John added.

“Yeah, so we just emphasised to Clarke that she’s not part of us. You’re right Echo, but what can we do now?” Harper asked.

“Those of us not actually working in the lab, spend as much time as possible with them doing other things. We might sleep here, we live with them, is that clear?”

Everyone nodded at Echo’s decree.

Without waiting to see if the others followed, Echo left the lab and went to the house to find Clarke. Clarke was sitting at the table studying a piece of paper. When she saw she had company, Clarke hid the paper in a drawer.

“Hey, I wondered how things are going to be organised round here now that there’s so many of us, you know what jobs we have, that sort of thing” Echo said.

“Yeah, you’re right. We need to be a bit more organised now that we have a bigger gang to look after. Can you see if Marcus wants to join us, please? He and mom are in the room you stayed in before.”

Echo nodded her agreement and wondered why it was the three of them she want to be there. Did Clarke consider the three of them to be the leaders of the individual factions?

When Marcus and Echo were sat at the able with Clarke, Clarke began the meeting.

“I think we can agree that until mom is completely well she should not be doing any work unless absolutely necessary” and she looked to Marcus.

“I agree. I don’t know how long it will be before she is able to keep a steady hand so for the time being, other than a dire emergency you should be our resident medic. What roles do you see for the rest of us, Clarke?”

“I don’t know how you feel, but I think our priorities ought to be finding a way to be self sustaining and protecting the children.”

Kane and Echo looked at each other, both thinking that Clarke was stating the obvious, but just agreed with her.

“Good. Raven and Shaw are working in the lab trying to find a way of using a drone to look for more fertile land, trying to pick up contact signals from elsewhere, monitoring the Eligius radios, and thinking of what they could make that would be useful from the scrap metal that is all over the place, bearing in mind that there is no fuel to heat the metal so they have to use mainly brute force.

“Emori and John are both learning to drive the Rover so that they can go on scavenger hunts with Harper as security. When they return, John wants to be the Chef for the evening meals and do wood work, Emori will help Raven and Shaw and Harper will help out as needed on any task. Monty wants to focus on growing food. Madi has said she will look after the rabbits, even when we have more, and suggested that Abby start off with helping to look after the live stock as we increase our holding. That leaves choosing jobs for you two and Bellamy. Do you have any views before I offer a suggestion?”

“I just want to make sure that I’m useful” said Marcus.

“Me too, and I’m sure Bellamy feels the same” Echo added.

“Okay; unless you can think of a reason why not, I would like Bellamy to oversee the lab crew on a day to day basis. Not only making sure that they focus on priority work but that they don’t get too immersed in it that they forget to have a life outside. Also, he can help teach the boys. They need some formal lessons in earth history, maths, English, trigedeslang, writing, basic science, IT, all sorts of things. Marcus, can you and Bellamy talk and prepare a syllabus and lessons for them? And Madi will need some lessons, too. Separate from the boys, but still school based. She is already too grown up for her age and I don’t want her completely lose out on her education.”

“That we can do, Clarke” said Marcus.

“Echo, your primary role I think should be to help everyone train, including the children, but especially Madi. It is not something I want for her, at least not yet, but it is possible that once Wonkru realise that Madi is a natural nightblood they may want her to be their commander. If that were to be the case then Octavia would be after her head, literally. One day, Madi may well have to fight to the death and she needs to be prepared for that and there is only so much I can do. Would you be able to do that?”

Echo thought hard. Although she should have realised, she had not thought about Madi being a natural nightblood and the implications if that information should get out. Given the choice between Octavia and Madi being commander Echo knew which one she would prefer.

“I agree. I will assist in improving everyone’s self defence, including teaching the boys whatever you think is age appropriate, and in preparing Madi to fight in a conclave. If it is acceptable to you, I should like to share in some of Madi’s lessons, and Emori may feel the same since we were not taught earth history and I should like to learn; and Emori may wish to learn to read and write.”

Marcus and Clarke looked sad at Echo’s request and both agreed that there should be no problem. Clarke suggested that Echo ask Emori if she wanted to join them.

“There will be times when certain jobs will require most of us to pitch in with the manual work, for example, I think we need to start thinking about making a lake so that we can try to get some fish. I think that will require everyone to do a bit.

“Tomorrow, we can all meet after dinner to make sure everyone is happy with what we’ve agreed. Now I have to try and contact Octavia to let her know of your success at with Eligius. Don’t know if she’ll deign to talk to me, but at least she’ll have the information as long as she has kept the radio.”

Octavia did not respond to Clarke’s efforts to communicate, but Clarke had hope that Octavia had listened to Clarke’s news that fifteen of the Eligius crew were dead and that all Skaikru were liberated. For some reason Clarke did not want to add the information about Shaw joining them, nor did she say that many of the Elgius crew were terminally ill. Clarke thought that she needed to keep something back to tell Octavia should she ever want to make contact.

It was discovered that three of the rabbits were female and one male, the perfect split so none ended up in the cook pot. Madi was excited at the possibility of baby rabbits in the near future. They decided to expand the enclosure so that more rabbits could be housed.

As far as Clarke knew, there were no sheep or cotton plants at Shallow Valley so they needed to think of a way to make thread and yarn for sewing and making clothes. The supply they had would not last forever and they needed to prepare.

Everything that could be thought of was brought up at the after dinner meeting.

Harper said that she wanted all of them to have their meals together, or at least the evening meal. That idea had everyone agreeing to it.

Clarke raised the point about the lake. Emori pointed out that at the moment, no matter where they dug, unless there was a rock bed, the water would just drain away. Raven said that she had one or two ideas that might work on that front but she wanted to do a bit of investigating first.

Then Abby asked about growing food. Monty said that the soil itself wasn’t contaminated, but that it needed to be fertilised. Noses were wrinkled when he pointed out some of the ways by which they could all help. Basically, just by living and eating they were helping to nourish the soil and the more they brought back from Shallow Valley, including animal and vegetation waste, the quicker the soil around the lab would become arable. In the meantime, the hydroponic farm was producing enough vegetation for them to live off, especially if it could be supplemented by some meat.

As well as trying to trap more rabbits and some turkey fowl, Madi wondered if it would be possible to trap some boars since they had big litters, and they tasted delicious. Clarke said that she thought that the risk they posed, given their violent nature, outweighed the benefits; but if they could fashion a large secure pen when they had more arable land then they could consider it again.

Bellamy pointed out that it would be better if they had two vehicles and wondered if it would be possible to find and repair the truck. Emori and John said that would be the first thing they would try to find and then leave it to the magic of Raven and Shaw to try to repair.

Unless they could have two vehicles, it was agreed that the Rover would have to alternate between Shallow Valley and scavenging, with Shallow Valley taking priority for the time being. “At least without us bringing more people back we have more room for food” announced the ever practical John Murphy.

There were no dissenters about who would do what jobs as long as it was reviewed every so often so that everyone’s needs were met.

Although they were not able to catch the larger turkey fowl, a small flock of chickens was found, the majority of which were captured to be rehomed at Becca’s island. The adult birds, for the time being, would not be eaten until they stopped laying eggs because they wanted to build up their flock to provide both meat and eggs in the longer term.

More rabbits were captured and soon they were breeding. It wasn’t long before the trips to Shallow valley were more about bringing plants, trees and the occasional cat for a different meat.

Raven managed to design a metal pond in the upper levels of the rocket silo. If they kept the doors open so that rain water would help fill it and topped it off with water from the valley it could, perhaps, work as a fish pond until the local landscape was capable of supporting a lake. If the fish didn’t take to being in a metal pond (as opposed to a natural large lake) then it could be used as a swimming pool.

Raven and Shaw did get the truck working which allowed for more cargo to be carried. Monty declared that even if they brought nothing further back from Shallow Valley, the fourteen of them would be fine. But they continued to invest because who knew what would happen. And then something did.

Octavia used the radio that they had taken to her to contact Clarke. When they first heard her voice they all thought that it was good news.

“Your puny attempt to ingratiate yourselves with us by disposing of a measly fifteen members of the Elgius crew was for nought. We shall obliterate them all. In two weeks we shall march into Shallow Valley and take possession of what is ours by rights and the enemies of Wonkru are still not welcome and if you try to take our resources you will be killed. Although we are pleased for you that you were able to rescue your Spacekru members as long as you stay away from what is ours; but it is a shame that the traitors Abby Griffin and Marcus Kane will not meet the fate they deserve.”

“What have you done Octavia?” Clarke asked with a real sense of foreboding.

“We have two loyal Wonkru on their way with some eggs from the sandworms. Once all the Elgius crew are dead, and the worms have died off Shallow Valley will be ours.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” Clarke called a meeting of everyone, except the two youngest who were told to play in their room.

“We have to warn them” Madi declared.

“Hang on a minute, let’s think about it for a second” said Bellamy. “Why is it such a problem?”

“I don’t know if the worms will only kill the humans. They could wipe out every living animal in that Valley” said Monty. “From what I’ve heard, I doubt that Wonkru had other animals to test this theory on.”

“Yes, that is a problem. Any chance of stopping them?” Marcus asked.

“We don’t know how far they have gone, the exact route they are taking, nor how they are carrying the worm eggs. If we see them before they enter the Valley we could stop them. I think our best bet is to warn Diyoza to search for them on the eye and to stop them before they reach the Valley” Belllamy said.

Clarke looked around for dissenters, there were none. Clarke reached for her radio to call Diyoza.

“Clarke, what a nice surprise. I didn’t expect that I would hear from you again. I’ve noticed that you make regular excursions to our land. We always manage to arrive at your camp site just after you’ve left. I imagine you time it so we don’t have time to reach you before you leave.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, more an acknowledgment of good judgement.

“Yes, I can’t imagine that the little we take makes any difference to you, but it means that we are able live. But while I would like to send both our vehicles for a very quick turnaround visit it is not why I need to speak to you.”

“I’m listening.”

“Octavia has told us that she has sent two members of Wonkru with a biological weapon. If they reach Shallow Valley all of you will be killed. Can you use the eye to try to spot anyone heading in your direction? If you see anyone, they are not ours since we will always travel there by vehicle. Of course it is possible that they are Wonkru defectors and Octavia wants you to do her dirty work, but if she was telling the truth, they need to be killed before reaching the Valley and for their bodies to be doused with an accelerant and burned.”

“What if they are defectors? How can we tell?”

Clarke looked to Kane. “I would know” he said.

“But it means letting Diyoza know that you’re here with us” Clarke pointed out.

“I know, but it is worth it if it saves lives.”

Clarke looked to see if there were any dissenters. John Murphy looked like he was about to object, but an elbow from Emori changed his mind. 

Clarke spoke in the radio again. “I have a confession to make. You might not like what I’m about to say, and you may want to kill me but if you would rather not kill genuine defectors just in case Octavia was not bluffing, I may have a way to help.”

“Go on.”

“When we left Octavia our first priority after finding somewhere to settle was to get back our people who you still had. On our first trip we managed to find John Murphy and staged his death. We did not expect that your people would follow the tracker into the pit and die too. At the time we didn’t know where Echo was, but it was a good bet that she had made her way to you and we wanted to try to find her too. We also wanted to get Raven back and talk to my mom and Kane to find out what they wanted. We found Echo just after she found your people. We could tell by what we heard on the radio that it was too late for us to talk to her. You know what happened that night. Madi once had a little and it put her into a coma for nearly two weeks.

“We got as close to your camp as we thought safe that night and were surprised that there was no one on guard duty and we managed to talk to Echo. She wanted to live with us, and she was sure that Raven did too. I was able to tell Echo to make sure everyone stayed hydrated, and if possible to drip feed fruit juices to at least get some nourishment into you. We thought that you would all wake up in a few days. At the time we didn’t know that so many of you were so sick. We took Raven and Shaw. Shaw is here with us because I didn’t want you to have the ability to obliterate Wonkru, or us. He was given no choice. Echo wanted to stay to help look after you because no one else seemed to be able to do anything. She said that a few were very helpful. The next night Echo brought me my mom: she was seizing and she didn’t know how to help her. She also brought Kane. Both are here. Mom is not well. I don’t know why she had such a bad reaction, but, well, there it is. No wait, one more: Echo was planning on killing herself. Madi dragged her away from the ledge before she fell onto the pyre. She removed the collar and stitched up her wound and brought her here. She was supposed to be getting more meat.

“Kane thinks he could tell you if the people are defectors or loyal Wonkru. He is willing to come to the Valley to try to help. What would you like him to do?”

“Thank you for being honest. I’m not sure if I should thank you or not. I guess I’m pissed that you took Shaw, but other than that …”

“Thanks. If we can help we want to. There are too few of us to go about killing each other unnecessarily.”

“Yeah, well, we need Shaw back because I can see on the screen that there are five people heading for the Valley and they are coming from all directions. We will not have time to hike to the infiltrators before they reach the Valley.”

“Dammit. If they reach the Valley you will die. Are there any who you can get to to kill and burn?”

“We can try to kill and burn them all but some will reach the valley first. Are you sure that it will kill the weapon?”

“No, it is possible that burning them will kill the worms, but you will have to make sure they are all dead.”

“Worms, what worms? I thought you said a biological weapon.”

“The worms are the weapon. The worms will attack and kill you. Your only chance is to kill the worms by burning them first. Octavia said that the people have the worm eggs. She would not tell us more.”

“Any advice?”

“Send some people to kill and burn the bodies of those arriving. Keep everyone else in the sealed drop ship. Keep in contact with the others. If they are all still alive after five days it should be okay. If they’re not, get back to us and we’ll come and get you out of there. Make sure your ship has plenty of rations, and put in as many trees, live animals including fish, cloth, books, anything that you think could be useful. We fear that if these worms get in the Valley, not only will they kill all humans, but they could kill all animal life. Octavia thinks that the worms will die off eventually and she could then take the valley. But it is also possible that they will lay dormant in the soil – we just don’t know.”

“We could just wait it out in the ship and then kill you all.”

“No point. If, as we fear, the Valley will no longer be habitable, where will you go? Our little spot is barely enough to feed us and is only working because we know what we’re doing. If you bring some supplies we’ll make do to include you and yours. Let Octavia reap the results of her own hubris.”

“Okay, we’ll do what we can. I hope it’s not needed and no more of my people need to die.”

“In the meantime we’ll make a trip to the far side of the valley and get what animals we can. You should be able to see us on your eye. Let me know if you notice the animals dropping dead near us, please.”

Taking both the truck and rover, Clarke, Emori and Echo all decided to go unsuited so that they stood more chance of catching some livestock. They managed to catch three small deer, one of which was pregnant; some more rabbits; one panther that was of no use long term so they killed it in situ; and they brought back more fruit, and berry and nut plants.

Clarke called Diyoza as they were leaving the valley and asked how they were doing.

“So far, so good. All five of the infiltrators were killed and burned. My outsiders are still fine. The rest of my people are very restless thinking that you were panicking over nothing, or using it as an excuse to come and take more from the valley.”

“I really hope I’m worrying over nothing. In any case, you’ll have to decide what to do about Octavia: can we talk about that later once we know?”

“Sure, I’ll listen to your views. Not so sure that I’ll heed them though.”

“Fair enough, call me in four of five days.”

It took only two days for Diyoza to call Clarke.

“They’re all dead. Before they died they complained about something being inside of them. They were all so sure that they had safely burned all the bodies but someone must have missed some of the eggs, or some were dropped before my men reached them.”

“Can your eye pick up any animals?”

“It should show some larger ones, boar, deer, panther, and until yesterday we had been able to see some not far from our camp. Now the closest ones are miles away and there’s not that many of them. I think you were right: when there was no human food for the worms, they turned to the mammals.”

Everyone who heard that last sentence paused with their head down to think about the loss to them all. The only animals likely to survive are the chickens, rabbits and deer that they had, unless the Elgius crew brought some others with them.

“Okay, what we’re going to do is to drive Shaw to you. He will be in a protective suit. When he gets to your ship you need to make sure all animals and humans are well away from the door and lower it enough for him to climb in from the Rover. If you have anything you can use to make a little airlock section, even plastic, do so. When Shaw is sure that no worms have got into the ship with him, he will fly to a point near here where we can sort out what to do next. How many of you are left?”

“Only eighteen, well, eighteen and a half since I am almost five months pregnant.”

“Well we look forward to another baby. They’ll be with you in about ten hours. And Diyoza, we’re helping you, don’t betray my trust by trying to take over. You have the weapons, we have the knowledge; we need to work, and live together.”

“I get it, Clarke. There’s too few of us not to get along.”

“Good, see you soon.”

Bellamy Blake loved driving – usually. The last time he had driven whilst fully enclosed in a radiation suit he crashed because he was focussing on Clarke’s smile rather than the road ahead. This time he was paying full attention to the path he was driving along because he did not want to think about Clarke and her smile. A smile that he knew he was never likely to see directed at him again.

When they could see the beginning of the Valley, Bellamy pulled over to let Madi take over the wheel since she knew her way around the valley and knew how to get to the drop ship.

“One final check to make sure there are no holes in our suits before we go on” Bellamy said.

They all clambered down and checked each other’s suits in detail. It was a little awkward when the two men were looking at Madi’s in detail, but they knew they could not risk any holes. All was well so they checked that their helmets were sealed and set off.

Driving through the forest it didn’t take long before they could see the results of Octavia’s short sightedness: there dead bodies littering the forest floor, squirrels and birds that might have been safe if they had stayed in the trees, rabbits, and Bellamy was sure he saw a big cat.

Pulling up besides the drop ship door, Bellamy radioed Elgius. It wasn’t long before the door began to open. Shaw climbed from the Rover and without stepping onto the ground slipped through the door. Once the door was shut again Madi turned the Rover around and drove straight back out of the newly named Death Valley.

When Madi felt it safe to stop she released the catches on the sealed cage which housed a rabbit. If there were any worms in the Rover they would immediately try to get to the rabbit through its mesh inner cage. Madi and Bellamy inspected the tyres to look for any eggs that may have gotten caught up in the treads and they blew carbon dioxide over the undercarriage to dislodge anything that could have attached. They moved the caged rabbit to under the vehicle and once more it remained safe. They drove the Rover a few yards ahead and then checked the debris of what had fallen off: there was three eggs that they put in a canister to ensure safe disposal.

Bellamy called Clarke. “We dislodged three eggs, probably already dead since they didn’t react to the rabbit but we need to be thorough. We’ll move a little closer to the island then do another check. We’ll keep that up until we’ve done at least three checks with no results.”

“Okay, thank you. Take no chances and be safe, both of you.”

Bellamy thought it almost sounded like Clarke cared about him: then he berated himself for his attitude. He knew that Clarke still cared for him and cared about him. He didn’t know if she still loved him but even if she did not, Clarke would want no harm to come to him and it was time for him to step up to the plate and be the partner Clarke wanted him to be in the raising of their sons and in helping the remaining people of the earth. He knew there was no chance of he and Clarke becoming a couple – not even if something were to happen to split he and Echo. The possibility of a loving intimate relationship with Clarke went the moment she saw his and Echo’s reunion in the desert. Now Bellamy had to accept that he might have to stand by and watch Clarke be with another person, and he knew how much that was going to hurt; just as Clarke had to watch him with Echo.

Bellamy was driving when they saw the Elgius drop ship over take them. The ship landed about a mile away from Becca’s house and lab: close enough for everyone to walk, far enough away to give a little distance if needed. Bellamy caught up with the people who were being led to the house by Shaw. They offered a lift that was accepted by Diyoza.

Clarke spent a little time assuring herself that all was well with Madi and that they brought no worms or eggs back with them. Diyoza said that they were sure they had not brought any either since nothing had been attacked in the ship.

Clarke and Diyoza “call me Charmaine since we’re all in this together” tried to work out where everyone was going to sleep. It was agreed that Charmaine should have her own room to share with her baby when it came so she was given a small reception room on the downstairs. One of the boy’s beds was brought down for her.

“I think we should be able to use some of the beds from the bunker since they don’t need them all” grumbled Bellamy.

Clarke agreed but said that she didn’t think that they would be allowed to take them. She did, however, remind Bellamy of the bunker where they found the guns and suggested a scavenging trip to see if there was anything in there that was still usable.

Clarke, Madi, Griff and Blake were all put in the one room which left three bed rooms that could be used. John reminded them about the lighthouse bunker and some could stay on the ship. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but everyone had somewhere to lay their head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't dislike Echo as a character, despite her eagerness to kill people just because she can. I hope that season 6 (which I haven't seen other than small snippets) allows her to develop as a more rounded human being.
> 
> I see Diyoza and Clarke becoming great friends over time and this is my opportunity of making it so.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elgius crew and the Spacekru all learn to live together, and Wonkru pays a high price for Octavia's decision to release the worm eggs in Shallow Valley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe that canon has the home ship farm only algae, but I can't see how they would get the necessary crew if they didn't at least have food for them to eat. I get that they might only give algae to the prisoners, but not the crew so I gave them a hydroponic farm like the Arc had.
> 
> There's a couple of story threads that do not run true in this chapter that I couldn't find a way to correct easily (I never intended that this would be a story, more a home for lots of different plot lines for other stories so there are a lot of continuity problems, some of which I could correct) so I left the ones here as author's artistic licence!

The goodies that the Elgius crew brought with them were checked over. 

There was a lot of fabric that had just been grabbed from some of the houses, bedding and a few mattresses. There were also a few items of clothing. 

There were some small trees that no one had a clue what they were, but they could be planted and hopefully would take.

The fresh fruit brought was welcome and would last a while.

There were some fish that had been caught earlier that day and a deer that had been gutted but not yet skinned.

The best thing was a litter of boar babies. “They’re all but weaned and the mother was proving difficult to grab so we left her” said one of the crew.

The animal supply was not vast, but it was something that they could work with – at least if they could work out a way to feed everyone from the limited vegetation they had for long enough for the animals to reproduce.

Clarke directed Bellamy and John to take the dining room table and as many chairs as they could find from all sources outside: they would be eating al fresco that night. 

Extra loaves of bread were made and meat (not the deer; that was for the next day) was cooked and thinly sliced. The fish were steamed, shredded and mixed with some diced boiled potatoes and chopped onion to make a form of potato salad.

A fresh fruit salad served as desert.

“We have enough food to last a week unless we risk a trip to the valley or use our investments” Clarke said as she nodded towards the animal pens.

“Oh, no, not again. I can’t go through this again, Marcus, I can’t” said Abby in despair.

“What do you mean ‘again’ mom?” Clarke asked.

“There were times when the farm didn’t produce in the bunker. The result was extreme” Marcus said without really explaining anything.

Charmaine looked at Abby. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked.

“She’s started having seizures. She had them before but they stopped after …” and Clarke tailed off. She then looked at Charmaine. “You didn’t put a shock collar on mom, did you?”

“No” Charmaine answered.

Clarke muttered to herself for a while then turned to beam at the Colonel. “I think you may have just saved my mom’s life. I mean it might not work, but Raven got shocked when we removed her collar and she hasn’t started seizing again so perhaps that’s what mom needs. Well it’ll be worth a try. She won’t survive for long if she keeps having them. I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow to see if she agrees. Thanks. Now if only you can come up with a way to make our food grow quicker.”

Charmaine bore what could be described as a smug grin. “You know, I might just be able to help you with that.”

After a suitable pause to allow Clarke to look appropriately awed, Charmaine continued: “The home ship has a farm. Of course none of us knows how to work it but if any of your crew can operate it, it should produce enough to feed us and anyone else who decides to join us.”

“Are you kidding me?” Clarke asked.

“Nope.”

“Could it be transplanted here because we can’t keep going up there to get food?”

“No idea. Is that the sort of thing that your tech people could work out?”

“Oh my gosh! Raven, Monty, Shaw, do you fancy a field trip?”

Raven, Monty, Shaw, and all the rest of the lab crew drew up to hear what Clarke was on about. Charmaine repeated what she had told Clarke.

Raven looked to Shaw in question.

“I’ve never paid any attention to the farm. I have no idea how quickly it could produce food or if it is possible for any of it to be transplanted” Shaw said.

Raven and Monty both agreed that they should go and have a look.

“We can switch it on from here so it’ll start producing something but we can’t do much else, I don’t think” said Shaw.

He was instructed to do that immediately and a trip would be planned for the next few days. Raven, Monty, Shaw, Emori and John all started walking towards the drop ship to do what they could from the ground.

Charmaine called over one of her crew. Trish was a cook and she was instructed to work for Clarke to prepare food for everyone. Trish was one of the Elgius crew staying in the house so she had seen the kitchen she had to work with and was sure that she would be fine. Trish’s two roommates were ordered to be her assistants on kitchen duty. Clarke was relieved since it would take a load from her shoulders and she didn’t think that John would want to cook for 32 people as opposed to the 14 he thought he would be cooking for when he first offered.

When Abby was in bed, Clarke called for Marcus, Charmaine and Bellamy.

“We need to call Octavia and warn her not to go to the Valley” Clarke said.

“She won’t believe us” Bellamy noted. 

“And if she does she will think that she can find a way around it” Marcus was sombre.

“We have to try” Clarke insisted. “The question is, who should be the one to call her?”

“To be honest, from what I saw down in that bunker, Octavia is as crazy as some of the worst of my people. I’m not sure that we can do anything to save her, or her people,” Charmaine put in.

“We have to try” Clarke insisted. “There’s too few of us not to save who we can. Octavia held the clans together in impossible circumstances. She might have gone too far but she was very young and inexperienced when she was put in the position of leader so she deserves the chance to redeem herself. We’ve all made mistakes and we all have to forgive ourselves and each other.”

“Well said, Clarke” said Marcus. “You are correct, we have all made dreadful mistakes in doing what we thought best for our people and Octavia is no different in that respect. I think you are the one who needs to speak to her, Bellamy. She might not let on, but she adores you.”

“I can’t talk to her. If she were to respond to my call, it would dissolve into an argument and there would be no good outcome. It needs to be Clarke. You can keep your cool, use facts and demonstrate caring, not judgement” Bellamy was sure.

Clarke looked to everyone else. They all nodded their agreement.

Clarke picked up the radio and tried to contact Octavia.

“Octavia, this is Clarke; come in please” she said.

Clarke tried three more times, receiving no response.

“Octavia you need to know that the worms are killing all the animals at the Valley and are leaving eggs in the ground. We don’t know what that means for the future, how long it will be before it is safe to enter. Please don’t march into the Valley until we have run some tests to determine its viability.” Clarke paused to give Octavia the opportunity to respond. There was radio silence so Clarke repeated her message then added: “Please, Octavia, don’t risk more of your people. We need you all safe. We can find a way for all of us to live peacefully and successfully, even if separately. Stay safe.”

“Well, I don’t think you could have said or done anything more than that” said Marcus.

Both Charmaine and Bellamy agreed. All they could do was to wait.

Clarke had explained the ruse about curing her mom’s seizures to the space crew, Madi and Marcus. They agreed that it was a clever idea and since none in the Elgius crew had medical experience they should go for it.

“I will have to explain that we don’t quite know how it worked, it was a bit of a shot in the dark type of thing, but that it appeared to have stopped the seizures” Clarke said.

Abby had two patches of her hair shaved, and she said that they could say it also stopped her heart and had to be shocked again. Two days later Clarke supposedly went to Abby and Marcus’s room while Abby was having a seizure. The defibrillator was discharged three times. Clarke joined the group with Bellamy and Charmaine and declared that the shock stopped the seizure and they would wait to see if it was a cure for them or not.

Not surprisingly Abby had no more seizures.

Raven radioed in from the main ship to say that the farm was already producing and that they would return with more food when necessary.

“We can transplant it to the ground but we need a massive energy source and I don’t know where we could get one. It’s possible to bring part of it down for now until we can work out a big power source. And even without the energy it can be used to grow stuff, just not super charged, normal like.”

Clarke was pleased that at least this bought them time to come up with a long term solution.

It was agreed that the day before the food supply would run out at the Island, they would return with part of the farm to help grow food down on earth, and as much as had grown in the meantime up there. Monty had set it so that the remainder of the farm should continue to flourish even though there would be no one there to tend to it. Of course that did mean that they couldn’t have the same variety as they would if it was tended to; but food was food and they were grateful that they could eat without risking worms.

As well as bringing food back from space, enough to feed everyone for several weeks, they also brought clothes, chairs, beds and bedding and other home essentials.

The hydroponic farm in the lab was producing well, and the plants, shrubs and saplings all appeared to have taken, or at least none looked like they were dying.

The baby boars were thriving, the rabbits were multiplying to the extent that Clarke thought rabbit stew was very likely in the near future and the hens were laying – half of which were allowed to become chicks and half the eggs were eaten. The deer had her baby and mother and fawn were doing well. Even the fish seemed to be growing, although not yet reproducing. Everyone was hopeful. The next meeting was to make sure everyone had a job and was able to contribute to the community.

Now that the food issue was settled for the time being, it was agreed that providing homes for everyone was to be the next priority. Three of Elgius crew went with Emori and John to look for supplies that could be used for building. Whilst no one was a builder, one of the Elgius crew was a construction worker and was sure he had picked up enough to know what he was doing.

“Well it’s more knowledge than any of us has, that’s for sure so we’ll follow your lead on this” John said.

Everyone else could only agree. “But you’re gonna be the one to spend the first night in there once it’s done” a crew member laughed.

The first home they built was made of a metal frame with stone on the outside with a thin layer of dead soil packed between the metal and stone to form some insulation. They could only think of using a metal roof with a hole for a chimney for the time being until they could use some logs to make a roof that would make a lot less noise when it rained.

As soon as she saw the finished home, Echo declared that she would love to live there, as did Emori. No one else wanted to sleep in there until they were sure it was safe so they made two small bedrooms as well as the communal area with the fire pit and Echo and Bellamy, and John and Emori moved into the new house.

It was agreed that if it was still standing after two weeks they would build another.

It was during this period of waiting that their peace was shattered.

“Clarke, this is Octavia, come in please” came across the radio. “Clarke, anyone, if you’re there, please come in!” Octavia was clearly frazzled.

“What’s happened Octavia?” Clarke got right to the point.

“You were right about the worms. We couldn’t see anything and thought that we would just live off the plants and we were happy. We’ve lost so many. We could see that some of the eggs in the ground started to hatch and nowhere was safe. We’re standing outside the valley and we have no supplies, and some are injured and we can’t get back to Polis. Can you help? Please Clarke, I’ll do anything, can you help?”

Everyone who could hear Octavia’s plea was silenced, waiting for Clarke’s response: some were expecting Clarke to start making all sorts of demands, but the former members of Skaikru knew better.

“Move as far into the open as you feel safe and we will come and get you. Just make sure that none of you have any worms or eggs. Someone will be with you soon.”

“Okay, thanks Clarke. Bye” and she sounded like the young Octavia again.

“Raven, can you and Shaw take the ship to pick them up, please? Mom, can you go to assess injuries and let me know what to prep for? Patrick, can you go with a concealed handgun and not let anyone else board who carries a gun? I’ll warn Octavia of that once you’re in the air.”

Charmaine raised a brow at the way Clarke had commandeered her ship but could find no real fault with Clarke’s words.

Those who were asked to go, plus Marcus who raised a questioning brow seeking and receiving permission, left to take to the air to pick up some, number unknown, members of Wonkru. Clarke didn’t want to ask how many they would be transporting because she didn’t want to risk the conversation going in the direction of suggesting that the Wonkru should just be taken back to Polis. No, she (Clarke) wanted to take the opportunity of having the leaders of all factions under one roof, hopefully all of a mind to build a future together.

In the meantime, Clarke set people to work to prepare for more guests.

“Octavia, this is Clarke. The ship is on its way to you, you should see it shortly.”

“I see it, Clarke. How did you get the Elgius ship?”

“We’re on the same side, now. We have 32 of us living here. Anyway, I need you to confirm that you are sure that none of you are carrying any worms, you will need to strip and shake your clothing to check for eggs because those buggers get everywhere.”

“Okay, we will do that. Anything else?”

“Yes, I’m sorry but no guns. If you have any you will have to leave them. If you want you could pick them up later but they’re not going in the ship.”

“What about swords?”

“They’re fine, provided you don’t use them on us, of course.”

“Okay, the ship is landing now. I need to strip and shake.”

Clarke smiled at the brief hint of humour.

Ten minutes later Shaw radioed.

“Abby says that Indra is badly injured where someone cut into to her to pull out a worm; there’s a couple of burns, some cuts that will be fine with treatment and one with an amputated leg.” Clarke drew in her breath as she thought of how and why the leg would have been amputated. “There’s a total of 15 of them. Don’t know how many she started with, but there’s 15 now.”

Those who knew some of the people in the bunker prayed that most stayed behind in Polis.  
The medical facilities were in the lab so those who were sleeping there were evicted to make way for the injured and the carers to sleep there. It would be a case of sleep where you find a spot to rest your head for everyone else.

The ship landed as close at it could to the lab. The truck and Rover were used to ferry everyone the short distance to the med bay.

Clarke recognised the amputee as Ethan. He was the youngest surviving sky born person and it was possible that he would not hold that distinction for long. A detailed look at where the amputation took place confirmed to Clarke that it would need to be sealed and receive anti-biotic treatment. The quickest way to seal such a wound was to cauterize it. He soon passed out from the pain. Clarke quickly did a blood test and asked for three blood donors of the same blood type: Echo and two from Elgius, all willingly donated.

Octavia was clearly torn: she didn’t know who she should be with the most, Indra or Ethan. It didn’t take long for Indra to send her Commander to the youngster since he would need her the most. 

Octavia surprised Clarke by not asking why Abby was treating only the minor cuts and burns whilst she, the relatively unqualified and inexperienced was treating the serious injuries. Once Clarke had sealed the wound and applied anti-biotic ointment, she raised the stump and attached an IV with the final pint of blood. She handed Octavia a beaker of water and two pills.

“As soon as he starts stirring try to get him to take these tablets and sip the water. Don’t let him thrash around and dislodge the IV – let me know if you need anyone to help you keep him still – and keep the stump raised. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve seen to Indra.”

Octavia merely nodded.

Indra’s abdomen had a nasty looking wound that Clarke assumed was made when someone put their hand inside Indra to pull out a worm. It wasn’t actually hard to sew up Indra, it just needed painstaking work to make sure that all the internal organs were recoverable and there was no internal bleeding. Clarke knew that Indra would not care how well the external wound looked, but she still made sure to do a neat job. Indra declined any further pain medication and was instructed to rest and drink plenty of water.

Clarke checked on the minor wounds and only needed to place a few stitches on the worst cuts. The burns were very superficial and would soon recover.

Abby and Marcus agreed to cover the med bay overnight so they were instructed to go and get some rest. Harper and Monty would take their room overnight. Raven and Shaw said they would sleep on the living room floor. Clarke smirked at how they would feel on being woken at the crack of dawn by two exuberant boys and suggested that they bunk with Harper and Monty, too.

Octavia refused to leave Ethan to eat so food was brought to her and the rest of Wonkru who clearly felt uneasy. It actually hurt Clarke to realise that Miller did not trust them. Bellamy and Harper were clearly upset too, which made Miller blush a little. John said that he thought that Wonkru were so confused by Clarke that she was likely to kill them all with kindness.

After everyone had eaten and Griff and Blake were given to the care of their father for their bedtime routine, Clarke went to Octavia and said “We need to talk and if you don’t want to leave this room we can do it here with everyone listening in, your choice.”

Miller was clearly angry at the way Clarke had spoken to Blodreina and reached for a gun that he was not wearing.

“It’s a good job I said you couldn’t bring them, isn’t it? This is my home, I am doing you a favour, treating your wounds, obtained when you did something that I strongly advised you against, putting food and water in your bellies since you killed the chance of that in the Valley, and you thought it right to pull a gun on me” Clarke looked at Miller in disgust. “If this is how you thank people who save your life I’m not sure there is any hope for you.”

“Miller, she’s right, we owe her” Octavia said. “And besides, this is Clarke, the woman who has saved our asses more times than you or I can count, or probably know about. You want to talk, Clarke, why don’t we include Diyoza in this little conflab, or does she already know about how you killed some of her people?” Octavia thought she was turning the balance of power slightly in her favour.

“We can include her if you want. I had to tell her the truth when she came here and saw that we had mom, Marcus, Raven, John, Echo and Shaw: so do as you must Octavia, it won’t change a thing between Charmaine and me, or the Elgius crew and the rest of Spacekru. We have forgiven them for what they’ve done to us, and they us. We’re working together to find ways to provide for us all, food first priority homes second. After that is all sorted we’ll work to job allocation, education and training, clothing and tech. What are Wonkru’s priorities?”

“Survival” Octavia snarked.

“Well we want to live, not just survive. How many did you leave in Polis or is this it?”

Octavia deflated a little; then stood tall. “There is nearly 300 Wonkru in Polis, I think that gives us the balance of power.”

“We have the food, the transport, the knowledge. We are happy to help you, but we will not be your patsies. Is Jackson safe in Polis? Would you like us to return you there for him to treat you?”

“The hydroponic farm is dying, there is little left. That is why we needed Shallow Valley” Octavia was once again subdued.

Clarke sighed but refrained from pointing out that it was Octavia’s own fault that Shallow is no longer a viable option for anyone.

“Are there any armed guards at Polis?”

“Why do you need to know that?” Miller was still belligerent.

“I would like to ask Monty if he would be willing to go and see if there is anything he can do to prolong the life of your farm, but am unwilling to ask him to go if he would be in danger” Clarke was getting exasperated.

Octavia thought for a moment then admitted that there were some armed warriors, maybe half a dozen.

“Then I suggest that you go with him and whoever else Monty thinks appropriate. If he can get your farm working then fine, we’ll send the rest of your mobile people, believe you me we don’t want the negative attitude here when we have young children around. Perhaps you should take this one with you” Clarke indicated Miller, “since I don’t want the children frightened, especially Blake and Griff who were so looking forward to meeting you all. We would rather we could all be allies, even if a bit distant, but not if we’re going to be practically threatened at every opportunity.”

“We don’t trust you. We only trust Wonkru” Octavia seemed sad.

“Then why did you call me for help? If you don’t trust us, why come here? Why didn’t you ask for you all to be dropped off in Polis?” Clarke was exasperated.

“We had no other way to ask for help and I did know that if you could help you would. But yes, I should have asked for us to be taken to Polis, I didn’t think of it and assumed that’s where we would be going because I didn’t know what medical facilities you had.”

“Would you rather I didn’t ask Monty to help you, or would that be a problem for you?”

“No, any help would be gratefully received. The only thing I’m worried about is what do you want in return?”

“Only your word that you and yours will not make any attacks on us. You have already destroyed our main food and land source so if you’re not prepared to be our friends and allies I only ask that you do us no more harm.”

“I can promise that, and perhaps we can work on the friend and allies part over time. I’ll keep the radio.”

“Do you want me send over Bellamy to talk to you while I go and speak to Monty?”

“Do you think he will want to talk to me? It’s not like I didn’t banish his girlfriend or threaten his children.”

“My children more than his and I’m still talking to you, and don’t forget the part about calling both Echo and me murderous double-crossing bitches and no matter how true it is, that was just not nice” Clarke instilled a bit of humour. “I’ll suggest it to him and leave it to him if he wants to talk to you.”

Clarke left the lab to find Bellamy and suggest that he might want to try to speak to his sister, and to speak to Monty to ask if he would be willing to go to Polis and the bunker to see if he could do something to help their hydroponic farm.

“I would only go if Bellamy, Echo and Harper come too” Monty said.

“Echo might be a deal breaker since Octavia banished her” reminded Clarke.

“Then I don’t go.”

“What about if John went instead?” Clarke tried to barter.

“I suppose John could be a good fighter if necessary. I want to feel protected. Harper told me how Miller is acting and it makes me feel unsafe.”

“Don’t forget that Indra will still be here along with others from Wonkru so Octavia is not likely to risk them.”

At that Monty snorted. “Clarke, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak such a blatant untruth. Octavia risks her people all the time to keep her hold on power.”

“Maybe, but she is very fond of Indra and she seems to be attached to Ethan so it may be true for them.”

“I’ll think about it and speak to the gang before making my decision.”

At that, Clarke had to be satisfied and went to chat again to Octavia. Seeing that Bellamy was talking with Octavia, although the crossed arms did not indicate that the conversation was going well, she turned away to speak with Charmaine.

Clarke told Charmaine about the conversation with Octavia, repeating it almost word for word. “How far do you think we should trust Octavia? And what do you think we can do to improve things?”

“Truthfully, I don’t think we can trust Octavia as far as we can throw her, but my main concern is the trigger happy Miller. We do need them more than they need us to flourish in the long term – by that I mean decades due to our small numbers because I cannot see that most of my people in cryo would be good contributors to this peaceful society. But I’m not sure that they could flourish without us over the next five to ten years. All we can do, since we’re not going to go in with guns blazing, is to offer what help we can and be seen to be decent people who want to be friends and hope that the message sinks in sooner rather than later.”

“So you think it would be the right thing for Monty to try to fix their farm?”

“Yes, if he can. I would be concerned if he was not able to help – they might not take it too well. He is right to want to go with protection.”

Clarke went to try to talk to Octavia again, this time finding her alone.

“Hey, how’d it go with Bellamy?” Clarke asked.

“Not good. He asked why I was so adamant that there was only Wonkru and enemies of Wonkru; why we couldn’t just be friends.”

“And I guess he wasn’t impressed with your answer.”

“That’s an understatement. To be honest as I think about it, I’m not too impressed either but it’s going to take ages to change. There was a lot of sacrifice to get Wonkru unified and if we bend too much too soon it might appear as if that sacrifice was for nothing.”

“I get that. What you achieved is very impressive; but you always knew we were out there somewhere not being part of Wonkru so why did you include us in your mantra? Why did you not make it clear that it applied only while you lived in the bunker? It was a bit disconcerting to save your life one hour and the next be declared your enemy. I didn’t want or expect thanks, but to threaten my children, Octavia, how could you lose so much as to do that?”

Octavia just shrugged.

“Well, we can’t change the past, we can only go forward. Monty has said he would consider going to look at your farm if he goes with protection. His first thoughts are that he wants to include Echo. He said he will speak with all the gang before he decides. I will insist that they take a radio and stay in regular contact. I know you gave your word that you wouldn’t harm us, but to be honest Miller is our main worry. He seems too eager to shoot at us for some reason.”

Octavia sighed, she couldn’t exactly argue with Clarke’s point. “He knows the sacrifices Wonkru had to make and the toll that it took on us all, me in particular. He feels very protective of me. He also knows that it is going to be hard for me to maintain control when we get back to Polis with the loss of over half our people.”

“Perhaps it will be eased if Monty can work his magic.”

Octavia, in a reaction that was very much reminiscent of the young 16 year old, snorted in agreement.

They then talked about the medical progress of Indra and Ethan and why Clarke was chief medic and not Abby. Octavia admitted that she knew that Abby was addicted but she could see no way to cure the addiction when she wouldn’t admit she had a problem. Clarke raised a sceptical brow when she remembered all the places that Abby could have been incarcerated while she went through a detox.

Monty said that he would do what he can to improve the output of the bunker hydroponic farm as long as both Octavia and Miller swore that they would ensure his safety and that of Harper, Bellamy and Geoff (one of the Elgius crew) who had all agreed to accompany him. They both did.

The six set off the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to find a good way to either end Miller of give him an epiphany: any ideas?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is not well within Wonkru and one attempts to take matters into his own hands. Miller really needs to get a grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to those who leave kudos. I do like to see that people are enjoying my writing.

The radio calls were very terse. Harper said that the atmosphere around the bunker was awful. Octavia spent most of her time pestering Monty because she knew she was not currently very popular with her people.

Gaia asked if she could return with Spacekru to spend some time with Indra and Ethan before they were brought back to Polis. Clarke checked with Octavia before she agreed. Octavia thought that it wouldn’t do any harm if a few others wanted to make the trip. Gaia was told that she could bring up to three other people.

Monty did get the farm producing again. He wasn’t sure how long it would last, but baring mishaps he thought there was at least another year in it. When he and his protection team returned to the island Gaia came with three of her fellow believers. They had thought that the time of the nightblood was over but on seeing Clarke, Madi and her two boys, all nightbloods, and all having survived praimfaya they began to plot. It was Marcus who brought the plotting to Clarke’s attention.

She needed to speak to Gaia.

“I know what it’s like to have the flame in your head, and I don’t want that for any of my children, at least not while they are still children” Clarke declared.

“How could you know what it is like to have the flame – you were rejected because your nightblood is artificial not natural?” Gaia reminded Clarke.

“I had the flame for a while in order to defeat ALIE. Taking the flame and the chip was the only way I was able to get into the City of Light and not be taken over the same as everyone else. As soon as we defeated ALIE the flame was removed” Clarke explained, not realising that Gaia was unaware of the ruse.

“I remember seeing you” said one of Gaia’s fellow believers. “Heda Lexa was helping you. I am sorry that I succumbed to the offering. Even now I look back and wonder what happened, how so many of us gave in and did not fight back. You fought back and were victorious. You should have kept the flame and been our true Commander. You would not have let the Valley be destroyed. You have become allies with your enemy, and have befriended others who had done you harm, and what have you asked in return?”

The four believers looked to Clarke for an answer. “Erm, I asked Octavia to not harm us anymore. I asked her to take the radio ages ago, and more recently I asked her to stay in touch, ooh, and I said that she couldn’t bring any guns to the Island.” Clarke seemed to think that those requests made Spacekru and Wonkru equal.

“I had not realised that you had already taken the flame when I denied you before” said Gaia. “What would you have done if you had ascended?”

“To be honest I would probably have saved most of Skaikru, not all of them by any means but they had the ability to work all aspects of the bunker better than the clans, and offered 100 places each to Azgeda and Trikru and 50 places each to the other clans emphasising the need to include children and skilled workers, not all warriors. We could have prepared the bunker sooner and I would have brought in some animals like we did here, ones that reproduce quickly or have large litters. I know it is pointless to look back, but I think Roan of Azgeda would have been a good man to have around when the going gets tough and I still regret his loss, and Luna’s.”

“Then I regret that I did not over rule Roan of Azgeda and proclaim that the Gods clearly wanted you to be nightblood or it would not have worked” declared Gaia.

“Doesn’t matter. The time has gone. You have already declared me unfit and Madi is too young, and Octavia would not stand for it. Forget your plans and help work out a way to make life better for everyone without needing to kill all the time” Clarke was adamant.

Unfortunately, so was Gaia.

Clarke decided that Gaia’s followers and six of the healthier Wonkru warriors should be taken back to Polis. She used the argument that now that the bunker farm is working again there is more food in Polis than on the island. Since the Wonkru did not know about their stores from the main ship, it was a lie that was easy to get away with. Clarke just wanted Gaia and her fellow conspirators away from the nightbloods.

Bellamy and John, accompanied by Emori and Harper, drove the Rover and truck so that they could do a scavenging run for the return.

When they arrived at Polis, Spacekru were shocked at the dejection apparent on most of the faces of Wonkru. They were stared at with envy and mistrust as they drove towards the bunker.

Octavia came to meet them. “Hi, thanks for bringing them back. I spoke to Clarke and she thought that the others would be fit to return in a week or so. Can we offer you some refreshments or would you rather leave straight away?”

“Trying to get rid of us, eh?” John was snarky, as he glared at Miller, almost daring him to react.

“Not at all” said Octavia. “We would be honoured to have you as our guests for as long as you wish to stay. I am merely thinking that you probably don’t find it very comfortable here.”

“I could do with a bathroom break” said Harper.

“Me too” agreed Emori, who was studiously ignoring the pointed looks she was getting because of her deformed hand. She wondered how Ethan would fare in Wonkru with a false leg.

Octavia led all of Spacekru through to her quarters in the bunker so they could have privacy and comfort as they saw to their needs.

“Actually, O” Bellamy started hesitantly, “there is something I wanted to ask you.”

“Spit it out Bellamy” Octavia encouraged.

“I wondered if it would be possible to have two sets of bunk beds for the boys. You can say no and, to be honest, I’m not one hundred percent sure the boys would like bunk beds, but I think they would; and I think it best to take two sets in case they both want to sleep at the top, but even if you say I could only take one set, I think they would still like that.”

“Stop rambling, Bell. Yes, you can take two sets of bunk beds. I hope Blake and Griff enjoy them. How are you getting on with them now?”

“The boys and I get on okay, but although they call me daddy, they don’t really think of me as another parent, at least not yet. Madi would rather I never returned, apart from the impact it would have on Blake and Griff, and as for Clarke, well she does her best to ignore me. She has separated me into two parts: on the one hand I am the sperm donor for the twins; on the other I am just another mouth to feed and put to work. I’m not sure if that will ever change.”

Octavia snorted at her brother. She never understood how he could be so dense about his feelings for Clarke.

“Imagine Clarke had moved on while you were away thinking you were dead, but you were confident that the night blood worked and she was still on the ground just waiting for you to return. And then, when you do meet up again, she is all touchy feely again and you prattle on about how you knew she would make it and how much you love and missed her, but she never says a word until you see her running into the arms of someone else. That you moved on with Echo while on the ring thinking Clarke was dead is one thing, that you never said a word to Clarke about it is another. And I don’t get it: I know you love Clarke so why?”

“Because I am not the same man who loved and left Clarke anymore. I am a hollow shell compared to him and every time I see Clarke I remember how I left her to die. I just can’t look at her without wanting to cry with pain.”

Octavia was silent as she digested Bellamy’s words. “Wow, I never thought I would feel sorry for Echo, but I do. Does she know she has only half a man?”

Bellamy snorted. “Echo really couldn’t stand the me before I thought Clarke died. While that Bellamy had Echo’s respect, there was little if anything else. She is in love with the shell. This half me is perfect for Echo. Finn apart, and let’s face it, she was just learning to be a real woman when he happened along and didn’t she grow in strength after she learned about Raven, Clarke has only fallen for full, larger than life characters and now I just don’t make the grade. I don’t know if there is anyone else around who could handle Clarke, possibly Diyoza, I mean Charmaine, but I don’t know.”

“And if Clarke got together with someone else, how would you feel?” Octavia pushed.

“I would hate it, but I would be glad for Clarke. I need her to be happy and since I can’t make her happy any more then I want someone else to do it, even if it hurts to see them together.”

With two sets of bunk beds, including the mattresses that appeared to be almost unused in the truck being driven by Bellamy, and John driving the Rover, the gang left Polis all of them unknowingly worried about how Octavia was going to be able to hold Wonkru together. There was food now, and when winter came they should be safe enough back in the bunker, but what could the people do? Jackson was occupied, the farm workers were occupied and some of the guard, but what did everyone else do? Bellamy didn’t think that a lot of work went into cleaning.

“You know, that lot needs someone like Clarke to come along and whip them all into shape” John said. “No wonder they were so eager for a fight, they have nothing else to do.”

“You can say that again” muttered Emori as they unwittingly both mirrored Bellamy’s concerns.

They returned to the island to a hero’s welcome from Blake and Griff when they discovered that their Auntie O had said they could have a set of bunk beds each. They paid no attention to the other metal pieces that were also brought back!

Madi had made friends with Ethan. It was not really surprising since they were of a similar age and were both very familiar with the sense of loss. But it was Raven who was of the greatest help to the injured boy.

Raven pointed out that although she still had her leg, she was in great pain every second of every day. Ethan would have a big adjustment to make, getting used to the false leg that she and Shaw were fashioning for him, but at least he would not be in constant pain. 

When Ethan complained that it meant that he could no longer be a warrior so he would be useless Griff was the one who said that having food was more important than having warriors so Ethan could grow food like Monty did and like he wanted to. Both Blake and Griff pointed out that Echo was their only warrior and everyone had important jobs.

“Mom says that everyone can do something to contribute. Granma doesn’t do much yet ‘coz she’s still sick but she is getting better and can do the healing so mom can then do other stuff” said Blake.

“What other jobs do people have?” Ethan asked.

“Raven and Shaw make and mend things, Murph and Emori go hunting for things they can use to make stuff, Madi looks after the animals, Granpa and Dad teach us stuff that mom says we have to learn. Harper helps Monty to grow things. Trish cooks all the food and Roz and Paula do all the cleaning. Geoff, Jonesy, Kevin, Bud and Diego are gonna do the buildings. Charmaine is growing a baby which everyone says is the most important job, and some others do digging and planting and stuff that Monty or Raven and Shaw tell them, mom calls it physics labour” Griff finished importantly.

Ethan almost smiled at the mispronunciation, but he did get the point that there was other work that needed to be done. He could learn to be a healer like Jackson, but with so many of Wonkru gone would they need two healers? He could learn how the hydroponic farm worked so he could make sure that Wonkru always had food, but would Monty be willing to teach him? When Ethan voiced that concern Griff said that Monty was already teaching him so Ethan could learn with him.

It was during the night that the first sign that all was not well within the Wonkru ranks came.

Abby yelled for Marcus to get Clarke: Ethan was seizing and she suspected that he had been poisoned.

Barley dressed Clarke ran into to the med bay asking Abby what she needed to do. Like she had been a doctor her whole life, Clarke quickly and competently followed Abby’s instructions and soon Ethan was resting calmly; stabilised for the time being.

“I’ll get Raven to run the tests on this first thing” Clarke indicated the vial of blood.

“No, I’ll do it now” Abby declared. “I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m not the sooner we have the answer the better.”

“You don’t need to test it” said one of the Wonkru warriors. “It was me who gave Ethan the poison. It is dishonourable of you to keep him alive when he has lost his leg. A warrior is no good to anyone with only one leg, he is just one more mouth to feed.”

Abby, Clarke and Marcus were too shocked to react.

Indra walked up to the assailant and punched him in the face. “You are the dishonourable one. To try to kill someone this way is cowardice. It is for Blodreina to determine Ethan’s fate, not you.”

“And there are lots of jobs, useful jobs, that a one legged person can do. There is no point in having warriors if there is no food for them to eat, no water for them to drink, no clothes for them to wear, no homes in which to shelter from the elements. Why do you think that being a warrior is the be all and end all? It is thinking like that that has got Wonkru into this mess” Clarke, at last, found her voice.

“You will not insult Wonkru” growled the would be murderer.

“Thanks to my people you were rescued from the desert. Thanks to my people Wonkru now has food back at the bunker. It is thanks to Wonkru that there is no possibility for any of us to make homes and live in harmony in Shallow Valley since Wonkru destroyed all the animals there. Wonkru is made up of people, and people make mistakes: deal with it. Indra, would you prefer that I informed Octavia of this or would you rather do it?” Clarke was fed up of being diplomatic.

“If you could arrange for us all, except Ethan, to be returned to Polis tomorrow, I shall inform Blodreina when we arrive, Wanheda” Indra emphasised Clarke’s grounder title. 

At the reminder of Clarke’s past the warrior lost some of his bluster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is the fact that Clarke had previously taken the flame ignored in canon; or am I misremembering? 
> 
> Although Wonkru is a united people, they still have many of their old beliefs; one being that the less than physically perfect are nothing more than freaks, this is something that is going to be addressed (it is also something that I use in my story 'A Second Chance', I guess it is something about which I feel strongly) and so Ethan will pay a larger role later, more so in my second part of this series.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke talks Octavia into preparing for a future. Some of Clarke's ideas do not go down too well with some former members of Skaikru.

At Clarke’s suggestion, the soil about a foot below the surface over a large area was tested. Monty confirmed that it was fertile and suitable for planting.

Discussions between Clarke, Monty, Charmaine Diyoza and Abby brought agreement that it would be most beneficial if they could grow a field of wheat.

“I’ll leave the logistics of how to remove a foot of soil from a large area and where to put said soil to you, Clarke” said Monty. “It would be helpful if most of it could be done before winter so that it would be ready to sow in spring” he added as he sauntered out of the meeting.

“Well, do you have any idea how we can do that?” Charmaine asked.

“Yeah, I have an idea or two. I’ll need to speak with Octavia, though and I don’t know what her mood will be like.”

Both Abby and Charmaine offered Clarke their sympathies for having to talk to Octavia.

Clarke didn’t have to wait for long to discover Octavia’s mood: Octavia radioed to talk to Clarke about Ethan and his fate.

“It is true that many here think that Ethan should be allowed to die” Octavia started. “I am having a large argument about how he can do things other than fight. It might be best if he could stay with you for a while, would that be okay?”

“Hmm, yeah. Actually, Ethan wants to learn from Monty so that he can help make sure that Wonkru always has food so we’re good with him being here. There is something that I wanted to ask you though, a favour really, but feel free to say no because I don’t know how things are from your end and you might not be able to agree even if you wanted to. And I promise that I don’t mind if you do turn me down, I do understand that …”

“Just ask Clarke” Octavia interrupted.

“Sorry, would you be willing and able to ask if any of your people, about five or six would probably be enough but we would take any number, would be willing to come and help us to prepare a field so that come spring we should be able to sew some crops? It is physical work, no skills required, just digging and moving soil.”

“I don’t know, let me think about it? Why can’t your crew do it?”

“We can, it would just take longer. Also, something that has been brought up, without anyone doing anything other comment on it, it would look like many from Wonkru don’t have a job now that you’re out of the bunker and this would give them a purpose, at least for a while. Like I said, feel free to say no. We’re going to start the prep regardless.”

“I’ll get back to you later about that. You are right, though. People need a purpose. Perhaps some of what they do at yours could be carried out somewhere near here?” Octavia didn’t sound like she thought it likely.

“I remember there used to be a big open space, a park. Try to get it cleared of rubble so that we can then carry out the tests to see if the soil underneath is fertile. If it is, you will need to clear the top layer, here it’s just under a foot so we’re clearing a full twelve inches, find somewhere to dump it, and make sure that the good soil doesn’t get buried below another layer of non-fertile dust blown in from the desert. Then you have all winter to work out what you’re going to plant. We have chosen wheat to start off with.”

Octavia decided to inject a little humour, albeit with a tinge of bitterness. “Anything else you would suggest for my people?”

“Yeah, but it’s not just yours, it’s our too. We need to think about repopulating. With just under 350 of us we’re going to have to be careful as well as prolific to make sure the gene pool is wide enough to reduce genetic complications down the line.”

“I, I, I really don’t know what to say to that one. I’ll think about it and get back to you. At least you’ve done your bit already.”

“No, I need to have at least one more child and by a different father, preferably two; one from Elgius and one from Wonkru. Charmain has said that her next child, when Hope is at least one, will be by Marcus since she is enjoying being treated like a princess while she is pregnant even though it is frustrating. I’m trying to persuade every female here to be willing to try to get pregnant within the next year or two. They won’t use too many resources to start off with, but we will lose some of the parents’ work time, but it is worth it.”

Octavia snorted at Clarke’s optimism. “Good luck, I’ll speak to you later.” 

Clarke called everyone to a meeting: everyone except the youngsters who were not affected by the discussion, and Abby who knew what it was all about.

“We need to think about having more children” Clarke began the meeting. “With so few of us left in the world we need to be careful to make sure that the population benefits from the continuing of every genetic source and that it is mixed up enough to prevent issues further down the line. That means that all fertile females should, ideally, have at least three children by three different fathers. That does not mean that I am requiring you to, no, I am just asking you. We should also include DNA from Wonkru in with us. And, we can assist conception so that the male donor does not have to get intimate with the female, but that is a matter of choice between partners. Men should have at least two children with two different women, preferably one each from the clans. I have already agreed that I will have at least one more child, preferably two, and have asked Octavia if one can be fathered by a donor from Wonkru.”

Clarke stopped speaking to allow for comments, or questions. She waited.

Finally, “Do I understand this right?” it was Raven who broke the silence, “you want us to have babies, multiple, and with multiple fathers. Who brings them up? What about the partner of the mother? How are they supposed to feel about their partner carrying another man’s child? This is crazy, Clarke.”

“You understand genetics, Raven, so you know it’s not crazy, it’s logical. As to who brings up the children can be a matter for the people involved to agree, for example, Charmaine has already agreed that she will bear a child by Marcus. The baby will be brought up by Marcus and Abby but with input from Charmaine. If you and Shaw had a baby you bring it up together, but it your next baby was fathered by, say, Gary, you would have to agree with Gary and Shaw who brings that one up. No doubt such discussions would inform your decision when making a choice on who to be the biological father. As to the feelings of the partner, I sympathise, I really do, but I hope they are mature enough and strong enough emotionally to accept this and to not take out their residual resentment on either the mother or the baby. If they really feel that they cannot see their partner carrying the child then that too should inform discussions. It is better that women have two or more children by the same partner than to not have another. No one is going to be forced to do this. Echo is lucky, Bellamy has already fathered children by one woman so she knows that she does not have to see another woman carrying her partners child.”

“Well I am not too sure on that” Echo said. “I cannot have children so that means that if Bellamy needs to father a child with another then it won’t be me.”

Clarke didn’t know whether to offer her sympathies: from the tone of Echo’s voice it didn’t sound like something that she felt badly about; perhaps she should offer her sympathies to Bellamy? Clarke decided that she and Abby needed to talk to Echo privately because if there was a way by which Echo’s DNA could still be used for the next generation then it behoved them to try.

“What about my genetic weakness?” Harper asked.

“Even with that, it is still preferable to losing your DNA altogether. And don’t forget, unlike the Arc, siblings are encouraged not forbidden. As long as they don’t all turn out like the Blake siblings!” Clarke joked.

Meanwhile, in Polis, Octavia was talking to Indra, Jackson and Miller about Clarke’s words.

“Bloody Clarke, always thinks she knows best” said Miller bitterly.

“In this case she is correct” said Jackson looking at his partner irritably. “We do need to mix and make use of all the genetic sources or two generations down the line will see a lot more deformities than the radiation produced. We should join in with Spacekru when planning the future generations. Indra, how will the clans take this?”

“Many will see this as a logical step. The men will be lining up to be the one chosen to father Wanheda’s child. To father Blodreina’s child will also be seen as an honour. The upbringing will always be expected to remain with the women. The men will dote on any child at any time, parentage will not be a factor. Wanheda is also correct in that we need to start work to prepare for the future. We cannot remain here living like this indefinitely.”

“So bloody Clarke gets her way again” Miller snarked.

“What exactly is your problem with Clarke?” asked Jackson.

“You weren’t here when we first landed, but she was always such a know it all; getting us to trust her but then she goes and stabs us in the back – all for the sake of doing what she can for her people. After we got out of Mount Weather she disappeared on us leaving us to the tender mercies of the very people who sent us down here to start off with. Then she played God again by drawing up the list of 100 people to survive prime fire. She didn’t put my dad’s name on the list but she made sure hers was, didn’t she? And then she protects herself with the nightblood but didn’t give it to anyone else, after she tortured that poor grounder in the chamber.”

“Nate, because she and Wells were Alpha, the Prince and Princess, none of us gave her the respect she deserved when we first landed” Octavia said. “They tried to be practical and get us to prepare for life on earth but we followed Bellamy who, and let’s be honest, was making crap decisions. Life would have been better for all if we had followed her advice right from the word go. Yes she sometimes got it wrong, but so did everyone else. I know she wasn’t happy about having to draw up a list of 100 people to stay, but someone had to do it and she used logic to choose. It wasn’t she who put her own name down, I recognised the writing, Bellamy did. When the conclave was announced, one thing Clarke said to me was that at least is was not up to her who should live and who should die and that was something she was happy about.”

“And don’t forget that you also agreed that the guy we called Bayliss be tested with the nightblood. Clarke made sure that she would be the next one to go in the chamber, it was not her fault that it wasn’t tested again” pointed out Jackson. “You have to let go of whatever anger you have against her. You can’t really hold it against Clarke that after committing genocide she needed to take a break from having to make life altering decisions. She had every reason to expect that it would be safe to allow the adults take over the responsibility and she could take a break and just be a normal 18 year old for a bit.”

“Wanheda is an honourable leader, and she does whatever needs to be done for her people. Without Wanheda, we would all be trapped in the City of Light or dead. We owe her a debt that we cannot repay, for the City of Light, and for the Mountain. I had forgotten how young she was, a child who was forced into making adult decisions” Indra was empathic.

“I guess, but when I woke up to find out that my dad was gone, and Jaha said that they used Clarke’s list, I just hated that she wasn’t there to explain herself.”

“Jaha wasn’t on the list, but he took Raven’s place since he was an Engineer” Octavia said. “Every clan had to make very difficult choices about who to include. With hindsight I can say that every clan should have made their choices in a similar way to Clarke” Octavia said. “Only Skai kru included children, and only Skai kru made sure to include various experts. The clans focussed mainly on their warriors; which, in hindsight, was a mistake.”

“I agree” said Indra. “Without the balance Skai kru provided we would have suffered more.”

“So what do we do about the children issue?” Octavia brought them back on point.

“With all due respect” Jackson started, “I think you need to have an honest open meeting with all of Wonkru there and for you to tell them the same things Clarke said and say that you will be negotiating your own pregnancy soon. Perhaps talk to Gaia separately first and ask her to agree the same. I know that it is not my place to say, but I would like to suggest that you have a child by either me or Nate and the three of us bring the child up together, your second child should be fathered by one of the clans and again the three of us could raise the child.”

“I am content to bear a child fathered by either of you or Nate, or even to have one from each, but I do not want to play the typical mom role: I am not maternal so the main child rearing would have to be done by you two.”

Miller and Jackson looked at each other for a moment before nodding to signal their agreement to the suggestion.

Octavia’s talk with Gaia did not go as she expected.

“If Wanheda has suggested it then that is what we should do. I shall bear a child by one from the Clans, then one from Spacekru and finally one from Wonkru again. If Wanheda can assist with the conception then that would be best for me since I cannot be intimate with a man. Does Wanheda wish to choose the father of my children or does Wanheda wish me to choose?”

“Why are suggesting that Clarke should choose?” Octavia asked.

“With all due respect to you, Blodreina, but whilst you were the leader we needed in the bunker, it is clear that I should have given the flame to Wanheda and allowed her to ascend. She has the better understanding on what is needed for the people during this time of peace – food, homes, occupation. I trust Wanheda to know what is best for the people, and that includes choosing who would be best to father my children.”

Octavia did not know how to respond. It is true, and Octavia would never say it out loud, that Clarke was managing peace better than she was. Spacekru, from she saw while at the island, all seemed to be content with their lot in this life and that is something that cannot be said of Wonkru. But, truth be told, Clarke was a leader while she, Octavia, was a warrior. Perhaps a warrior should not lead in times of peace. On the Arc the Chancellor was elected and elections were held every five years. The grounders were used to having one leader who was there until they died. If the Commander proved too unpopular then death was apt to come calling. Did Octavia want to wait until she was formally challenged? Given that she was by far the best fighter in Wonkru, perhaps she would not be challenged, but rather assassinated. Did she want her people to seethe in resentment until one, or more, finally snapped? No, she needed to speak with her Council to get their opinion.

“Roz and Jen have said that they would be happy to have children” Charmaine said. “They would like their first child to be by their current partners. Both have said that once they were pregnant, they would end their relationships. Kevin is happy to enjoy his time as a sperm donor and not be involved in the upbringing more than he would protect and care for any child, but Jonesy is pissed that Jen doesn’t want him involved. I told him that he should talk to you if he and Jen can’t reach agreement. Kevin said that if all the chicks were like Echo then he would have no problem doing his duty by Wonkru. It is perfectly clear why Roz does not want him involved in the child’s upbringing.”

Clarke laughed at Charmaine’s drollery. “Yeah, I think I wouldn’t want him involved either. I’ll call Octavia when he has done his duty with Roz and offer his services. Who do you think I should ask to donate from Elgius?”

“Carter. He is shy, celibate and gay. He will not get intimate with anyone since he believes sex should be saved for marriage and he hasn’t met anyone he would want to marry. He was badly picked on for his beliefs, and for being gay, and he ended up killing a man who was goading him. He is grateful that being gay is no longer something that anyone would question. Do you want me to ask him?”

“Yeah, please. While the child would remain with me, I would want the father to be involved, for them to know each other, if he’s not happy with that then I’ll think again.”

Clarke and Abby had a very frank talk with Echo about her reproductive problems. With the use of the ultrasound they were able to determine that Echo was still able to produce eggs and carry a child, but would have to deliver by caesarean.

“I have no wish to have a child or children of my own” Echo was emphatic.

“Oh” Clarke was a little taken aback that Echo didn’t want to have a child with Bellamy; “but can you think about the possibility of us using your eggs for someone else to have children so that we keep your bloodline going?” Clarke asked.

“I will think about it? Who would you give my eggs to?”

“If we discover someone who has a viable uterus but no eggs of their own, they would be first choice. Otherwise we should try to find a suitable surrogate and father who we could negotiate parental rights with. To be honest, it the alternative was to lose your DNA, I would use them myself if it was acceptable to you” said Clarke. “I have no idea how the nightblood would work if I was the surrogate, though.”

“I will decide if I will donate, and you can decide what to do with them after that, I think that I do not want to know” Echo said and left the lab.

“If I can get some hormone therapy then I could make use of Echo’s eggs” Abby suggested. “Marcus could be the biological father and then he could donate to father one in Wonkru. That would make him a triple father: assuming that the IVF takes.” 

“We’ll see what Echo decides. I don’t know if she’ll talk to Bellamy, or what his thoughts would be if she did but we would need to talk them into account if he does have an opinion. The problems might arise if she doesn’t talk to him first and he later discovers that she has turned down the opportunity to have a baby with him. I think he would probably enjoy being a father from birth and this may harm their relationship.”

Next Clarke and Abby had to talk to Raven and Shaw about difficulties due to Raven’s hip.

“You can have one pregnancy only, Raven” Abby stated. “We would need to deliver by caesarean because your body could not sustain the trauma of a natural birth, but we would ask if we could harvest your eggs and use a surrogate so that your superior DNA was made full use of.”

Raven said that she wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she would consider it once she and Zeke safely had their first child.

Emory came to Clarke concerned that her deformity might be passed on. Abby and Clarke both tried to reassure her that it was not likely. “Honestly, Emori, everyone has just as good a chance of birthing a child with a deformity as you do. Of course it is possible that your child could have a deformity; but so could my child, Harper’s, Raven’s; Hope could be born with a deformity. We won’t know for sure until the baby is born; and if it does, then so what? I don’t think anyone could argue that you are less of a valuable person for having a wonky hand any more than Raven is for having a dodgy hip, or Ethan for having a false leg” Clarke tried to reassure Emori without lying to her, or making it seem like children with birth defects are somehow less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With so few people left, genetic diversity is important. Clarke doesn't want to force anyone into doing something that they have a real objection to, but she does want to offer what encouragement she can. And wouldn't you want to make full use of the genes that went into making Raven's awesome brain?  
I don't really know the breakdown of male:female, but Eligius have more males and I think that Wonkru probably have more males than child bearing females, hence the suggestion of women having three children and men two. Happy for people to give me merry hell for the idea!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made for the winter, and considered for beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter for part 1 of the series. As always, it was written as a freeform of writing with little to no editing.

Octavia called Clarke to say that ten workers would come to the island to help prepare the field for sewing. They would learn what was being done so that it could be replicated in Polis for Wonkru if the soil samples that they were bringing with them were okay. “We’ve taken samples at six inches, twelve and twenty-four inches. Hopefully we won’t have to dig down two feet, but there are signs of bugs in the ground now so I am hopeful” Octavia said.

“I’ll send the truck tomorrow. What have you decided about children?” Clarke asked.

“I’m coming with the workers because I need to talk to you, properly; not half assed conversations over the radio about a few things, including the children issue. I have been surprised by the reactions of people here. Anyway, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

With the news of the guests, the accommodation plan was put into effect. The two new huts that had been built would temporarily house five Wonkru each with Octavia sleeping in the Med bay. She would be in a separate room to Ethan, but Clarke hoped that the two would talk about what happened to Ethan and his plans to be a farmer.

Bellamy, accompanied by Jonesy took the truck to collect the Wonkru workers. Clarke wanted the two separate factions of Spacekru (and they needed to find a different name to Spacekru since the youngest three of their members had never been to space) to mingle more so she was devising little tasks to force co-operation which hopefully, in time, would lead to friendly association.

“Why didn’t we fly down in the ship to collect them?” Jonesy asked. “It would take minutes instead of hours and would be a lot more comfortable” he grumbled.

“My guess is that the fuel to fly the ship is finite, while these babies can go forever as long as we have daylight” Bellamy said. “You never know when you’re going to need the hydrazine so it’s best not to use it when there’s an alternative.”

“Guess you’re right. I thought it might be that Clarke didn’t want them to get too comfortable.”

Bellamy snorted. “That may have turned out to be a happy by product. Unfortunately it means that we can’t get too comfortable as well. Can you drive? Do you want to take a turn?”

“It’s been that long that I really don’t want to take it up again when we’re on a timescale. Perhaps when we’re back home and you have a few minutes you can give me a refresher?”

“Sure, I’ll speak to Clarke to ask if I should offer lessons to everyone who wants to learn, but in any case, I’m sure refreshers will be fine.”

“If you don’t mind me asking” Jonesy was hesitant, but clearly curious, “how did you manage to father children on a woman like Clarke and then to hook up with Echo? I mean, Clarke, she’s like the most important person in the world now and you dumped her to take up with Echo, a brilliant fighter, yeah, but she can’t even give you more children.”

Bellamy wondered how many times he would have to explain what happened. But he told the story of his and Clarke’s relationship and how he, well, all of them on the Ring thought that Clarke had died and that after three years he moved on with Echo. “Clarke and I were together for a very short time and had known each other for less than a year: Echo and I have been together for over three years and have known each other for seven. When I thought Clarke died, part of me died too and I became a different man, in many ways a lesser man, but Echo is perfect for the man I am today; just as I am for her. Clarke and I would not suit any more, no matter how convenient it would be for everyone if we could go back to the way we were before praimfayer, we both went through too much apart and changed in completely opposite directions. In one way I do not mind that Echo cannot have children because the boys have already lost out on so much time with me and I’m glad that there won’t be other children to take away our time together in the future.”

“You are probably the more honest man out of the two of us.”

Bellamy almost snorted at Jonesy’s words because he did not know about the time when he and Clarke were in Polis with Wonkru and that he, Bellamy, was far from honest with Clarke.

Bellamy was surprised to see two faces, other than Octavia’s who was, amazingly, not accompanied by Miller, that he recognised from Skaikru and Nylah. He wondered if their presence meant that they may consider moving across to Spacekru and leaving Wonkru.

Once the group arrived at the island they were all surprised to see how alive the area was.

“It took a lot of hard work for it to get like this” Bellamy said. “We were lucky that we had enough time to take some stuff from the valley before it was destroyed to give us a start. And we had people with the knowledge on how to make the best use of what we had. I know that Clarke will make sure that Wonkru has access to anything we have that can help you get established too.”

“That’s one of the things that I need to talk to Clarke about” Octavia said. “How we can establish Wonkru as a viable entity. We need to consider whether we should stay in Polis or try to set up home somewhere else. We have the bunker, but there is little else in Polis that will benefit us in the long term.”

Bellamy was surprised at Octavia’s openness in the presence of her people: perhaps she was trying to turn over a new leaf to make herself loved and respected instead of feared.

Their guests from Wonkru were welcomed warmly by all. The friendliness of Spacekru seemed to make Wonkru ill at ease, although they tried to talk themselves into believing that it was because they were there to do Wonkru a favour, although the children were also very at ease with them and they would only act in such a way if it was natural to them.

They were given a decent supper – with real meat, and shown to their temporary homes. They were warned that they would be woken up early by the boys shortly before breakfast was ready.

Octavia said that she would work with the crew in the morning, and asked if she and Clarke could have that talk in the afternoon. Clarke could only agree while she pondered on what could be so important to Octavia. Clarke was sure that Octavia wanted something, something that she thought Clarke would not want to give; it was the only reason that she could think of that would make Octavia do unskilled labour work without asking for something up front.

After a good supper Clarke called together all the people who would be working on the preparation of the field.

“Most of you know that before praimfayer this was an island. It is possible that once the earth has reset itself and the water finds its own path again that it would end up an island once more. Unfortunately since we don’t have a boat we would prefer that this does not happen. So what we’re going to do is to take the unfertile top layer of soil from what we hope will be a field of wheat this time next year and use that to form part of the barrier to stop the river from cutting us off. And then we’re going to take the top layer of soil from just south of that barrier to form part of another barrier at the other end of the old river. After that we’re going to take the good soil that we had just uncovered and replace the dead soil from the field so that the winds won’t blow dead soil and sand back over and lay to waste all the hard work. The very large hole where the river used to flow will become a lake, home to the fish we have that really don’t like their limited space at the moment. Like I told Octavia, the work is physical. All of Spacekru, except for Abby who is still sick even though she is getting better, and Charmaine who is pregnant will do their share, but if anyone suspects that they may be pregnant then they should stop and focus on growing the baby; but I also think cooking for all of us should be regarded as an even more important task and therefore exclude Trish and her crew from taking part.” Clarke paused for the snorts of agreement to die down. “Even the children will be doing some work in the afternoons after they have had their lessons in the mornings. I hope everyone has a change of clothes, if not let me know. If you pass your dirty clothes to me after your day’s work I will make sure they are laundered and returned to you by end of the next day’s work. We’ll need to set up an order for access to the showers so that you all know when it’s your turn so that everyone can dress into their clean clothes after their shower.” This time Clarke paused for the sarcastic cheers. “Hey, at least you’ll have clean clothes every day without you needing to do the laundry!”

“Actually, Clarke, none of Wonkru came with a change of clothes, or anything like soap” Octavia sounded a little ashamed.

“Okay, that makes it simpler. There’ll be soap and toothpaste in the bathrooms. I’ll get a towel and toothbrush for everyone. I’m not promising the spare clothes will be your exact style, but hopefully they’ll be okay.” Clarke hoped no one would baulk at wearing cotton instead of leather. “Actually, I’ll leave a change of clothes inside your doors for tomorrow then if we launder and reuse our clothes then I don’t need to worry about cleaning leather. Of course, if you wish, you may take a change of clothes back with you, a small payment of thanks. Any questions?”

“Yeah, what’ll the cripple do?” one of Wonkru, unknown to Clarke asked.

“What do you mean by ‘cripple’? Ethan is staying here for a while until he adjusts to his new leg, but he is Wonkru and so is not included unless he wishes and Octavia allows; Raven who has a serious injury to her hip and so uses a brace also struggles with some physical work? Do you mean either of those two or do you have someone else in mind?”

“Actually both, as well as your mutant. If you want us to be convinced that Ethan is not a lesser man then you have to prove it to us.”

“Well we’re not changing our plans for Raven who, incidentally, is probably the most valuable person left on the planet and is not allowed to do anything that puts her in unnecessary danger for that reason alone, and will be at the site of where the first part of the dead soil is to be dumped. Raven is the dumping site supervisor. She has been working out how to make sure that our barriers will be stable enough to hold back the water, apart from what we want to slip through to feed the lake. Raven will also be responsible for building the bridge over the small stream that we hope will eventuate. Emori will be lifting and carrying buckets just like many others, I can’t think that Emori’s hand has held her back at all when it comes to being a valuable member of our team. Ethan can now walk, but he is yet to be able to do the type of physical work this requires. However, I am sure that before you leave you will see that he is well on the road to recovery. He currently plans to learn about food production from Monty so that he can ensure that Wonkru never has to go hungry again. I don’t know how you feel about food, but I think that is pretty important and he should be encouraged.”

“And I think you should know that I don’t have full use of my hands due to radiation burns but it didn’t stop me from doing what you needed to get your farm producing again” Monty added, clearly in the same mind as Clarke about so called physical limitations.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and sort out the clothes and toiletries for you. Feel free to enjoy the rest of your evening.” Clarke wondered off, muttering to herself about how Ethan might need to stay with them longer than she had at first thought, at least until he was completely independent.

Niylah followed Clarke. “Hey, can I help?” she asked.

“Hey, yeah, sure, of course you can. Is it going to be wrong for Ethan to go back to Wonkru? He is positive that that is what he wants to do, but it seems that Wonkru don’t want people who are not physically perfect.” Clarke didn’t understand the attitude.

“He was a warrior and to us once a warrior always a warrior, it’s a mindset thing. Once people get used to thinking of him as a farmer there won’t be any problem.” 

“Hmph, good. Come on, I’ll introduce you to Madi and the boys, although they might recognise you from my drawings.”

Clarke led the way into the house where Madi and Ethan were playing a board game with the boys. Niylah raised her brows at how solid and luxurious the house looked and wondered how it survived better than the houses in Polis did.

“Madi, Blake, Griff, I want you all to meet a friend of mine” Clarke called.

“Niylah!” Madi called. “I remember you. You were the one to help Clarke after the mountain. You showed her how to do so much. I remember when she would smoke fish she always said ‘My friend, Niylah taught me how to do this’ and would give a big sigh.”

“Well I’m honoured to have so vital a part in Clarke’s life. Knowing how to prepare food is very important if one doesn’t want to get sick.”

“Griff, Blake, I need you two to prepare eleven toothbrushes, and Madi, can you get eleven towels, please? Niylah and I are going to start looking for some clothes for the Wonkru helpers. Leave them on the hall table when you have done that, please.”

Niylah was surprised when all four got up, Ethan, struggling to keep up.

“I’ll help the boys” Ethan said. “I should know how to make toothbrushes so they can teach me.”

Niylah followed Clarke until she came to a big cupboard full of clothes. One side was dedicated to male attire and the other to female. They soon had two sets of suitable clothes for everyone. The four youngsters helped to carry everything to the sleeping quarters so that task was soon complete. Baskets were put inside the doors for the dirty laundry, and the bathrooms were stocked up with soap and toothpaste.

“You’ve done very well, here, haven’t you? Do you enjoy being in charge?” Niylah asked.

“Yeah, we’ve been very lucky. Everyone has had to do something to contribute, my mom is getting better and will soon be able to take more of the medical work from me, but she will be running the soil samples that you brought from Polis. She also keeps an eye on the water from our pond to make sure it’s good for the fish. Marcus is the main teacher for the children; Charmaine is my Chief Advisor, and is very frustrated that that is all I let her do even though she agrees that growing a baby is more important than anything else at the moment, and I know she secretly adores being waited on by everyone.”

“What about Bellamy?” Niylah was puzzled; she knew how Bellamy and Clarke were always co-leaders is the past.

“Bellamy is the main driver, he also does some teaching, he goes on scavenging runs, he helps out when needed for certain tasks. He doesn’t have a single job, and I’m not sure what job he’d want if he was offered the chance to have just one. Perhaps when things are quieter in the winter months I’ll find out more about what he and everyone else wants to do. At the moment, unless someone has a specific skill, everyone just does what needs to be done at a particular time. One thing we don’t have, that we will need in due course, is a wood worker. None of us have that skill so we’ll either have to ask if someone in Wonkru could offer lessons or let someone who has a desire to try it out. Unfortunately we won’t have wood for learning for a while, unless we risk a trip to the valley. We might have to do that for winter anyway. I’ll think on it, work out a possibly safe way to do it then get everyone together and see how they can improve on my idea.”

The first part of the task was simple: fill up buckets with the dead soil, empty the buckets into the truck bed, and repeat. Abby and Charmaine carried the empty buckets the short distance from the truck to where the workers were removing the soil. Once the truck was full, everyone at the dig site had a break while it was driven to the dump site and emptied.

Everyone agreed that the work was essentially boring, but people swopped roles and jokes and generally got on with it. Wonkru were surprised to see that Ethan joined Griff and Blake in helping to return the empty buckets to the diggers in the afternoon. Monty also took a few minutes to show Ethan and Griff how to tell if soil was likely to be fertile by the look and feel of it.

While the boys were helping the work in the field Octavia took the opportunity to talk to Clarke in private.

“Now that we’re out of the bunker, I don’t know how to lead my people. In fact most of them don’t see me as their leader anymore. I am still their Commander, but I am one they fear rather than respect; one they obey rather than follow. If they weren’t so scared of me and Miller, I think there would have been a coup by now. Gaia thinks that you should be our Commander and I agree.”

Clarke was shocked: not by the fact that Gaia thought that she should be Commander, after all, Gaia had been clear about that while she was at the Island; but rather by the fact that Octavia agreed.

“Octavia, I cannot imagine any scenario whereby you would agree to me being your leader or where Miller would accept me as his. For some reason he hates me and would sooner kill me than follow me. And you have hated me for a long time and despised me for the decisions I took. How could I possibly trust that I would be safe as your Commander?”

“I never thought fear for your own safety would be a reason that you would turn this down” Octavia sounded shocked and disappointed.

“I have children to consider now: their wellbeing is at the forefront of every decision I take and they need me to be as safe as reasonably possible. I cannot risk what would happen to them if I were to be assassinated by either you or yours. I want them to keep their good opinion of you, to keep their innocence, their belief in right and wrong. Auntie O being responsible for my death would do untold harm to them and it would mean war.”

“Yeah, sorry, didn’t think about them, but still, I understand now that rotten decisions with no good choice sometimes have to be made and sometimes your gonna make the wrong one. I actually think that you make better ones than me because you think things through to their conclusion. Kane once said that being a leader is like being a chess player and the better player you are the better leader you can be. Five days later I asked your mom if you ever played chess and she said that you were very good, always seemed to think five moves ahead and wondered why I asked. You thought about the possible effects of releasing the eggs in the valley while I refused to see beyond killing all of the Eligius crew. And, by the way, why did you warn them of what was happening? I though you would want them all dead same as me?”

“I didn’t want them all dead. In fact there was only one that I really wanted dead and he died when he fell into an animal trap so I would rather that all the rest had survived. Whilst the Valley was still habitable there was room for us all, we just had to find the will to unite and I hoped that we would have time to find the common ground. If we had 900 of us instead of just over 300, I wouldn’t have had to encourage all women to have children by different partners. I would still have suggested all women have children, but not pushed the different partners idea so much. I would like to have more interaction between the two factions, but I don’t want my children to be frightened and some of Wonkru scare them.”

“How about I stay as the leader of Wonkru, but I let all my people know that I shall, from now on, be seeking and following your advice, because I acknowledge that whilst I may be the fiercer warrior, you are the wiser leader?” Octavia offered what she thought was a good compromise.

“Yeah, you can do that. Do you want for our two groups to get closer? What do you want for your people?”

“To be honest, I want my people to have what your people have here. I want them to have a purpose and I don’t know how to give that to them. We can’t stay as we are: people are bored, dissatisfied and see no future. The talk about children gave them something to focus on but some are refusing until they know that their children will have a life worth living: which is where you come in; you can give them that.”

“Okay, let me think about it. I was thinking about what to do over winter and I can adapt it a little so that both our wishes are met. I’ll talk to Charmaine, Monty and Bellamy and get back to you tomorrow. Mom should have the results of your soil tests tonight.”

“Yeah, looking at the soil in Polis and comparing it to the soil here, I’m not too hopeful. I might have to ask if we can be neighbours!”

Octavia was right not to be hopeful. Although the lower level soil was not dead in the same way the top level was, it wasn’t fertile because at some point it had been contaminated with poisons and nothing could be safely grown in it. Clarke thought that it some way it made her choices easier: unless she wanted to have the fate of Wonkru on her conscience she would have to agree to taking over the leadership. It solidified her plans for winter.

Clarke took Monty’s advice on the winter food and talked to Bellamy to get his agreement to looking after the boys for three months while she was with Wonkru. Bellamy expressed his concern over leaving Clarke again but she pointed out that this time they had plenty of preparation time and would ensure that they could maintain radio contact.

“I am not going back to space” Echo declared. “I don’t care how much more comfortable it will be I am not going.”

Clarke looked to Bellamy to see if he would try to persuade her otherwise.

“Echo, I have already said that I would go so that I can spend more time with the boys” Bellamy said, not really trying to change Echo’s mind, just seemingly giving some additional information of which she might not be aware.

“Then you go and spend those three moons being nontu and I will see you when you get back. I shall stay and help look after the animals here.”

Clarke was a little surprised that Echo didn’t want to spend the time being a step mom, trying to usurp her relationship with her sons, but she didn’t’ care enough one way or another to try to interfere.

“As long as you are happy to be one of only three to five people left here I have no problem with your decision” Clarke said. “Does anyone else have a strong view one way or another?”

Most of the Eligius crew wanted to go up to the ship, as did all of the rest of Spacekru, once it was established that the farm on the ship would provide the better fare and the rooms would ensure a degree of comfort that would not be found on earth during winter. Three of the Eligius crew said that they didn’t mind either way and agreed to stay with Echo. Clarke thought that Echo was hurt that none of Spacekru wanted to remain with her, especially Emori.

“That leaves 72 spaces available if we want to offer them to Wonkru. Any opinion?”

“As long as that asshole Miller doesn’t take one I don’t mind” Charmaine replied to Clarke’s question. “Also, they won’t be allowed to take any weapons. It would be good if there was someone who was skilled in weaving or cloth making so that they could teach a few others.”

No one argued against Charmaine so Clarke said that she would make the offer to Octavia. It turned out that seven former Skaikru plus nineteen from the other clans wanted to go, including a couple who used to be clothiers before praimfayer and were looking forward to having materials to work with again.

On the penultimate day of November, Bellamy drove the truck to Polis to collect half of those going up to the Eligius home ship. Echo went with him to keep him company. They did the same on the last day on November. They didn’t have much time before they were all loaded up into drop ship to go. Clarke had some last words to everyone.

“Once the door to the drop ship closes, Charmaine Dyioza is in charge, seconded by Marcus Kane. They will take technical advice from Monty Green, Abigale Griffin, Raven Reyes and Zeke Shaw and anyone else whom they see fit. Blake Augustus and Griffin Wells, who is in charge of you two?”

“Daddy, Madi and Granma” Blake said.

“And other grownups if we are working and learning with them” added Griff.

“Well done, Madi?”

“Abby, Marcus and Charmaine and anyone with whom I am working” Madi was long suffering.

“Blodreina said that Monty is responsible for me” Ethan added unprompted.

Clarke merely nodded her acknowledgement. “Enjoy your comfortable winter and we look forward to your return in three months.”

Clarke hugged her boys, Madi, her mom, Kane, Charmaine, and her boys again and stepped away from the door. She and Echo entered the Rover and drove to the house without saying a word as the ship took off and headed to space. They would not see the ones they love for three months. Clarke knew that the only way to survive it was through work. She only hoped that Echo knew what she was doing when she decided not to go.

It was a subdued group of five who ate at the house that evening. For a change, Clarke did nothing to contribute to the clearing up, but went straight to her room and ran a bath while she cried for her family.

“Mom! Mom! Come in please, it’s me, Blake, over” came over the radio, instantly bringing a smile to Clarke’s face.

“Hello, Blake. It is so nice to hear you. Are Griff and Madi with you? Over.”

“Me here too, mom!” Griff shouted through the radio. “And Madi, and Granma, and Charmaine!”

There was silence for a few seconds before Griff shouted “over!”

“Do you like your room? What do you think of space? And you don’t need to shout, just use your inside voice, over!”

“We’re fine, we just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely and that the room allocation is good.” Madi had taken the mic. “I am in a room between Blake and Griff on one side and Abby and Marcus on the other. I think the boys think it funny that they have to share a big bed rather than having a small one each. I think we got the good quarters. Here’s granma, speak to later, love you, over.”

“Love you, too, and give my love a kiss to the boys, over” Clarke smiled through the tears.

“Hello, Clarke” her mom’s voice came through, calm and collected. “Don’t you worry about us, we will all be fine, you just concentrate on what you need to do down there with no other distractions, promise? Over.”

“Okay, mom, I’ll trust you all to keep my babies safe and focus on what I need to do. Take care of everyone for me, including yourself. Over and out.”

Just five minutes later and it was Charmaine on the radio. “So far all is going well, no one seems to be unhappy at being here, although a few are spending more time looking though the observation window than in their assigned rooms. Let me know how things go with Octavia and I’ll let you know if anything is said on the other radios that may be cause for concern.”

“Thanks, don’t worry yourself into high blood pressure over it, though. If necessary delegate it, I think Murphy with one of yours would be good, and make sure you and Hope have a safe birth.”

The next day Clarke said her farewells to Echo and the remaining Eligius crew and headed to Polis and Wonkru.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the Two Krus series is called Allies and will be up soon. Clarke and Octavia try to prepare for the future with Wonkru being friendly allies of Spacekru (we really need another name) but there is a big obstacle who just doesn't want to play nice! (I'm sure you don't need 3 guesses to work out who that is!)

**Author's Note:**

> A short opening chapter, mainly to set the scene, the next chapters are much longer.


End file.
